The Zeta Project Season 3 Episode 3
by clutzattack
Summary: Episode 3


THE ZETA PROJECT****

            SEASON THREE 

Disclosure: I am a college student in my second term of college now.  I absolutely have no money left for you to sue from me for writing a simple fanfic. 

This fanfic is an attempt to continue the series, as if they were actually storylines that might possibly be turned into a cartoon episode someday.

Sorry this is a little past dated. I didn't start it soon enough before Christmas. I promise I'll continue the plot more after this episode. (But you all know how the cartoons can't always have plot advancement… Then they'd run out of air time. Why do you think the cartoons that just have them fight an unlimited supply of monsters are so successful? (*COUGH* Pokemon, Sailor Moon, Yugioh, Power Rangers, Scooby Doo…)

Also, sorry that these things just keep on getting longer and longer. Kind of like the Harry Potter books…Unless you like to read long stories. It measured 48 pages in word and about 26,500 words…

"White Christmas" Ep. 3 Season 3

            The auditorium remained silent as the technicians behind the stage dimmed the current set of lights then increased the intensity of others. The rosy pink, yellow, and warm colors were changing to that of an icy blue, cool atmosphere. Just by the change in colors the mood of the audience became more relaxed and more sentimental. The conductor in front of the orchestra in the pit in front of the stage raised his baton, and the musicians stared playing a new, softer melody, "The Nutcracker Suite." The next scene was beginning. 

            The ballerina stepped out into the stage viewing area. She was wearing a lovely tutu that was covered with aurora borealis sequins that glittered in the spotlight. Up close her make up looked like that of a clown's, but from where the audience was sitting, her expression of sorrow, yet romanticism was clearly readable, and did not at all look like a circus performer. She slowly began to proceed towards the center of the stage, taking very smalls steps on the tip of her toes in her beautiful white satin toe-shoes. Her arms moved like they were scarves loftily floating on the wind. Her every movement reflected years of lessons and hard.  This dance, "The Nutcracker Suite," was to

            The Nutcracker Prince raced, or in technical terms, sashayed to his beloved Clarice. In his arms, she leaned over into a perfect arabesque.  Her legs looked like they weighed nothing at all from the way she was able to suspend them for continuous amounts of time in the air, as the Nutcracker Prince spun her around slowly. With her leg extended in the front, he'd slowly walk around in a circle with her, as she gradually brought her leg around to the back where she would do yet another arabesque.  Then the prince would move away from her, do a few pirouettes, and leaps, then return to her as she had gone off to do some more dancing. 

            Their actions flowed like water as they danced together doing several lifts and leaps. There was one impressive moment when Clarice was doing countless pirouettes in a row, as the prince just gently held her waist.  In the end, however, Clarice finally had to leave her Nutcracker Prince, and return to the real world with the help of the Sugar Plum Fairy's magical powers. When she would wake up the next morning, all that was left of her magical adventure was her wooden nutcracker doll, no longer broken anymore.

            When the music stopped playing, the audience began to stand up and clap exuberantly. A softer, more mezzo piano music began to play from the orchestra. The performers came out of the side wings behind the curtain for their last curtain call, starting in order of appearances at the beginning of the show. Each did a quick, but impressive dance step, and then continued back behind the curtains for the next group to come out. The last two people to come on stage again were the main performers, Clarice and the Nutcracker Prince. The audience's clapping had died down because of the longevity they'd been doing it for, but regained their enthusiasm again when they came out. Bouquets of roses were being thrown onto the stage at the feet of the stage. 

            "See if you can get one in the tuba!" Ro whispered eagerly to Zee. He was holding one of the dozen bouquets of flowers that they'd purchased from a vendor outside of the lobby just before the show had started. The vendor was a little surprised that they were buying so many, especially at the ridiculous prices he was selling them at. 

            "I don't think he'd like that very much."

            "Come on. He can easily fish it out," Ro insisted. Its large bell shaped opening was such a tempting target.  It funneled straight down, just as any trashcan would be…

            "I thought we bought these to give to the performers?" Zee said, a little confused.

            "They've got enough already… Just let me do it then. I can make it look like an accident."  The tuba was sitting near the edge of the stage as the lower brass sounds always sat in the back of a symphonic orchestra. Ro could easily make it look like she'd just missed the edge of the stage by a couple of feet.

            He looked at her, wondering if she was really serious. "Oh, never mind," Ro gave in. She would feel guilty about doing in, as they'd waited so long now.

            Zee threw the bouquet with perfect aim. It landed right at Clarice's feet. They had one more bouquet to throw.  Zee picked it up.

            Assuming that he was just going to throw it onto the stage, Ro turned to leave. Upon hearing a fairly loud clang sound, she quickly turned back around and looked in the direction of the tuba player. There, in the large bell, was a mess of roses. She began laughing to herself, then looked at Zee to express her surprise that he'd actually done it, and to compliment him on his perfect aim. However, he was still holding the rose bouquet, meaning he wasn't the one who had thrown it.  So who had? 

            She looked to her right. Bucky was shouting, "YES! Yes! Perfect shot!" He quieted down when he noticed that people were beginning to stare. "Well… I guess getting dragged to this wasn't so bad after all."

            "Where'd you get the roses from?" Ro asked him. While she had approved of the prank earlier, because Bucky had been the one to actually throw them, she now disapproved. In the corner of her eye she watched the tuba player stop playing and flip his tuba over, dumping the roses out. He set the roses aside. While the roses had probably been meant for one of the performers he would be taking them home. They had landed in his tuba. They were his now.

            Casey looked shyly at his sister. "CASEY!" she chastised him. 

            "It was your idea to begin with," he protested.

            "That doesn't mean that you should listen to me!"

            "And other times when we don't, you tell us that we should have. Oay. It's like you expect us to be mind readers or something," Bucky complained.

            Ro looked very frustrated at not having a witty comeback for them. She stomped pass them and made her way towards the back of the auditorium. Zee followed behind her . 

            "It was a nice shot," Casey complimented Bucky, then hurried after Ro and Zee. Bucky lingered for another second to bask in his victory, then followed the group out into the lobby. 

            "So what did you think of the ballet?" Zee asked Ro as they made their way through the crowd to get out to the street.

            "A nutcracker doll and a human girl? What was the composer thinking? That is, like, the weirdest pair ever!—" 

            Zee couldn't help but thinking, "It doesn't sound that much more bizarre than a synthoid and a human…" 

Bucky couldn't help but verbally express Zee's thoughts in a mocking, skeptical tone, "Says the runaway orphan who's hanging out with a tin can that also happens to be in on the "American's Most Wanted" list."

"Ohhhhh!!! You!!" Ro stamped her foot. Her fists were clenched and she was heavily grinding her teeth. "This is the last time we take you anywhere with us!"

"Aww, come on… I didn't mean it that way!"

Ro turned her nose up and gave him the cold shoulder. She grabbed Zee's arm, and dragged him away behind her, away from Bucky and Casey.

"Ro, he does have a point, you know… And you left yourself open!" Casey protested.

"I get enough of this from him, I don't need you supporting him!" she snapped in reply, as she slid her arms into her coat, which Zee was holding out for her. 

"Let's not fight over this," Casey asked so sincerely, that Ro couldn't stay angry any longer. She wanted to be mad, but she just couldn't. But she'd be insulted in a way that deserved retaliation…

"At least my tin can doll does more than crack nuts, and I'm not an orphan anymore. I've got you guys for my family now…"

Casey looked at his watch, "I've got a couple of hours left before I have to get home and pack.  I've got that plane to catch tomorrow…"

"Your first real big article. It must be exciting," Zee commented.

"I just hope that I don't mess it up."

"Pity it had to be over Christmas…"

"That's probably why I got selected for it… All of the other people with seniority put in for the week off. Then this lead came in, and I was the only person left to take it… That's the problem when you work for a business that never sleeps…Not everyone can have the day off."

"Then we'd best make use of the time that we have together now," Ro added.

"Where do you want to go now?" he asked her. "Please, not another ballet…"

"Anyone up for a mall crawl?" Ro asked, noticing the large mall just a few blocks down.

Bucky groaned. He knew the many hours Ro could spend shopping. "ANYTHING BUT THAT!" he pleaded. 

Ro glared at him, "You can just get on a bus and leave if you want," she silenced his griping. "So, you up for it?" she asked, turning to Casey.

Casey looked at Bucky, who was shaking his head back and forth so

violently, that Casey almost thought he was having some sort of a seizure. He then looked at his own sister who was hopefully looking at him in return. One of them was going to be disappointed.  Why did he have to make this decision? "I dunno, what do you think Zee?" he asked, hoping to alleviate himself of the responsibility of deciding if they would do a "mall crawl" next. He had a strong urge to say no, as he didn't necessarily know what a mall crawl was exactly. 

"I'll be content with whatever we do. My preference is not very weighted in these matters. "

Great.  It was up to him again.  "Christmas is a time for families to be together…" he reasoned with himself, "Besides, what do I owe Bucky?" "Sure, why not," he consented.

Excited, Ro took Zee's arm and began to lead the way down the city street to the mall. Bucky was looking rather sour, as he followed behind with Casey. It was in this opportunity that Casey bent down to Bucky and asked, "Just exactly what is a mall crawl?"

Bucky groaned again. He would have to suffer through this at the expense of a decision made by someone who didn't know what mess he was actually getting into.

"You know what a bar crawl is, right?"

Casey thought about it for a moment, then he realized that he truly had cornered them in a regretful state. "Awwww man…" he complained.

"Yeah… It's the same kind of thing. Rather than stopping at all of the bars so that you're so drunk you have to crawl from one to the next, Ro's version is that you shop until you're so tired you end up crawling from one store to the next."

"I'm sorry, "Casey apologized.

"At least you're here to suffer with me through it…"

"I doubt that it will be that bad."

"Zee's told me stories…"

"In that case, I think I need to excuse myself early to go and pack for my flight…"

"You wouldn't dare!"

"No, I probably wouldn't. I must say though, I certainly have learned my lesson…"

There were no houses on the street that they were walking down, as they were in a business district rather than a residential zone.  They were deprived of the privilege of admiring all of the houses with their dangling icicle lights and cheap reindeer lawn ornaments.  The city's road maintenance team, instead, had wrapped all of the bare tree limbs with white lights. The tall street lampposts had garland wrapped around the bases with colorful Christmas bows and ornaments hung from the top. It was nice to look at, even though it lacked a personalized touch that a house would have.

It wasn't very cold, walking around outside. They weren't in an area where it would actually snow during the winter. They didn't have to worry about slipping on black ice, or about having a car drive by and splash muddy snow or water on them. Whether Ro realized this or not, Zee always walked on her left for this reason. It was a custom that had started centuries ago: Men would walk on the lady's left so that if a carriage did drive by and splash mud or water, the gentleman would get dirty and not the lady. Also, it was to protect her in case a car swerved onto the sidewalk. The gentleman would take the biggest part of the blow, thus shielding the lady. However, the history of this chivalric act had long been forgotten and no one really knew why the men were supposed to walk on the left side. It was just so.

To get to the mall entrance, they had to walk through the front parking lot. On several occasions, they were nearly hit by cars, too impatient to yield the right of way for them, or who weren't looking over their shoulder while backing out of their hover space.  Near the front of mall, the traffic was horrendous. It was the last Saturday before Christmas. The crowds were actually bigger than the ones the day after Thanksgiving.  The cars at the front of the mall were trying to get past while an endless stream of people coming in and out of the mall blocked their path. The only way to get through the crowd was to drive aggressively, which included nearly running over pedestrians who were running across the street like chickens in their hurry.

"Let's not get hit…" Ro commented, ready to make an attempt to cross the street. She was stopped by Zee. Amongst the crowds of people too busy with their shopping to pay any attention but getting in or out of the store, Zee holomorphed into a traffic control personnel. He walked out into the middle of the street and held his hand up. All of the cars stopped. They could get into serious trouble if they didn't follow his directions and signals, or if he was in a bad mood and felt like writing them up for not yielding the right of way to the shoppers. When all of the cars had stopped, Zee signaled for Ro, Casey, and Bucky to cross the street. When they were safely across, he put his hand down, and followed them inside. The cars resumed their regular flow of traffic, and he holomorphed back.

"You know, it's handy having you around…" Ro teased him.

The mall was not less crowded with people than the parking lot was with cars. This made sense, as a car could hold more than one person. The mall was decorated with the same style as the lampposts and trees on the streets. In addition to this, the stores individually had put up their own decorations. The Christmas spirit was alive and well in the mall, at least the marketing spirit of the Christmas season was well. 

They began to walk from one end of the large mall to the other, starting on the right side. They would browse through the left side of the mall on the return trip, then would repeat the process on the second story of the mall. After that they might venture into the other branches of the mall. Ro had been surprised that Casey had actually agreed to come to the mall with her, so she wouldn't over do it by going to the other branches…

Whenever one of the window displays caught one of the party's eyes, they would stop to admire it. Then, as they were stopped right in front of the store, why not go in?  Between the stores that they stopped with the window displays, and the ones that Ro insisted they had to go into, they were stopping at three out of every four stores.  However, with the amount of window shopping they were doing, Zee had not had to pull out his cred card once. The lines were ridiculously too long to wait in. While Ro might have thought of purchasing an item, when she saw the line for the cashier, she changed her mind, and didn't mention her interest in the item. If she had, Zee would insist that he be the one to wait in the line, just so he could buy it for her. She didn't want him to have to wait 15 minutes, and then they'd be separated while she went off shopping in another store until he came out. This was to be a family trip. She didn't want anyone to get separated. 

Besides, she liked to complain about all of the other shoppers. "Look at these people! Christmas is a time to get together with family and friends. These people certainly are self indulged… Not to mention that they're just buying a bunch of dumb toys and vid games. On Christmas morning, the kids will open their new toys and will spend the rest of their break playing with them, or sitting in front of the vid screen. All they'll get to see of them is the back of their heads," she casually commented a she looked through a rack of shirts in one of the stores.

"I take it that Christmas at the orphanage wasn't given much consideration," Zee commented. It was only obvious. Ro's complaining was her subconscious jealously expressing itself. She'd probably never had a Christmas with her real family or with any real gift exchange. The orphanage wouldn't have had enough money to provide gifts for all of the children who lived there. 

"Nah, but that's okay. Most of us didn't even know what we were missing out on."

"That's no excuse," Zee replied.

"But what can you do about it?" Ro nonchalantly replied. She had no idea of the scheme Zee was plotting out in his mind…The children would awaken and would run downstairs. Through the windows they would be able to see the large dump truck filled with toys donated by an anonymous person. The owner and overseer of the orphanage would be talking with the driver, asking if there was some sort of confusion… The driver would insist that he'd followed the directions perfectly, and this was where he'd been told to drop off the toys…"

"Zee!"

 "Yes?" he asked quickly. He diverted his full attention to Ro. 

"You were kind of spacing out there for a moment."

"Oh, sorry."

"No problem… Anyway, as I was saying, I'm going to go try these on," she said as she hooked half a dozen shirts over her arm and carried them to the dressing room. The sales bot issued her tag for the number of garments that she had, then permitted her into the dressing room.  "Would you watch this for me? I don't want it to get stolen while I'm in the dressing room," Ro asked, handing Zee her purse. 

With a quizzical expression on his face, he received her purse. She then went into the dressing room. At first he hung her purse over his shoulder as she wore it, but it didn't seem appropriate as he was a guy.  Her purse wasn't like the ones that older ladies carried, but was more of a wallet on a strap. But, still, it was a purse. He then tried tucking it under his arm. He was getting obscure glances from other women shoppers. He tried dangling it by the shoulder strap, and swinging it back and forth. There was nothing he could do… there was no proper way for a man to hold a lady's purse. Casey and Bucky were desperately trying not to laugh at him as they watched him try to figure out how to hold Ro's purse. It didn't help that she was taking her time in the fitting room. 

"It really is your color, and style, don't you think?" Bucky teased him.

"Nah. I'd say that black leather would match his hair more…" Casey added. 

Zee glared at both of them. He was trying to do Ro a favor, it didn't help that they were making fun of him. He didn't bother to suggest that one of them hold her purse. It was obvious that they were glad that they weren't stuck with it. Zee glanced around the store quickly. No one was looking, and there were no cameras around the fitting room. He holomorphed into a young teen aged girl. He then hung the purse on his shoulder, and casually leaned against the wall. Problem solved. 

It was several more minutes before Ro came out of the dressing room. Just before she got a glimpse of Zee as a teenaged girl, he holomorphed back. "Thanks," she said, taking her purse from Zee then hanging it on her shoulder again. For some reason, it didn't seem appropriate to mention what he'd had done. Some things were best left unspoken. 

They continued to look through the rest of the stores in the mall. While Ro was making it seem like they really were indulging her in a regular shopping spree, she was actually pursuing a secret agenda. She had to find Zee a Christmas gift. She'd already bought gifts for Casey and even Bucky. She'd purchased their gifts several weeks before. She'd procrastinated buying Zee's gift however until the point that she only had six days left.  It had just been too inconvenient to go out and buy something, or she couldn't think of anything to get him. But what do you get a robot that can afford everything?  She had a small amount of creds left over from the original 5,000 Zee had paid her with when he'd first met her, but that was all. Since they'd been traveling together, Zee paid for everything she needed and covered any expense that they might incur. 

The other problem was that they always traveled together and were rarely apart. Even if she did find something, she wouldn't be able to buy it without his knowledge of it. She actually hoped to sneak away from the group for a short while so she could do some browsing by herself. She wanted her gift to be a surprise, which meant that Zee couldn't even be around when she was shopping for it. 

This was going to prove very difficult. For protective purposes, Zee kept a close eye on her. After having one too many incidents where she got cornered by the feds when he'd left her side temporarily, he no longer felt leaving her by herself. It had never bothered her or been an issue until now.  

They had reached the end of the mall, and were ready to make their way back when Bucky complained of being tired of shopping already. This might be the chance she was waiting for, "Why don't you guys just sit here for a while, and order yourselves something to eat from the food court while I go look in this one store, shortly."

"Are you sure it's safe?" Zee asked her.  "Would you like me to come with you?"

"Nah, I'll be quick," she persisted, then hurried into the department store. Zee considered following her anyway, but she was certainly able to take care of herself. He'd listen carefully for the sounds of her scream in case something happened.

Casey found an open table that the three of them could sit in. Bucky surveyed the small restaurants in the food court area. There was every variety of food available at his fingertips, but he didn't have an appetite at the moment. He slouched in his chair and drummed his fingertips on the table top. Waiting for Ro to get done shopping might be as bad as looking around with her. Waiting here allowed him to sit down and get off of his feet. The only downside was that he was incredibly bored. At least if he were shopping with Ro he would be looking at different things, which would be more entertaining than just sitting there. They weren't even having any form of a conversation so far… They were guys. What could they possibly have to talk about?

"You know… I wasn't really that tired… It's just that I hate shopping with Ro. She has to look in every store, and comment on everything in it. There's no simple walk in and out in two minutes…Christmas shopping is so overrated and dragged out," Bucky began to complain. 

"So I take it you've finished all of your shopping then," Casey commented. "Of course. I got it all done in one day, AND, at the same store."

"Let me guess, you found all of your gifts in the bargain bin and clearance

table at the 'penny-wise 'store. "

            "No way, man. I wasn't that cheap. I put some real effort into finding these gifts! The cheap prices were just a bonus."

            "Real effort… So in other words…at the checkout, you had to wait in a line behind ten other people just to buy last year's recalled model of a combination toaster and coffee maker." 

            "With a journalist's salary, I'll bet that all you can afford is to give everyone hand knitted scarves made out of the pocket lint that you collected from the lint traps at the local laundry mat!"

Zee zoned out as they two began to argue. He didn't have to worry about being frugal when he had an unlimited cred card. He wondered what Ro could be doing in the store that she didn't want him around for. Was she getting tired of having him around? "Please let it be anything but that…" he thought. He finally reasoned with himself that he was being paranoid of something that was unlikely. He was confident in their friendship, and their dependence upon each other. If she were to ever leave him he imagined that he'd be devastated… Even beyond the grief and remorse he experienced when Selig had died… Since Selig was gone now, Ro had become even more supportive towards him. They'd spent the last few months looking for Dr. Edmund… They'd have dozens more close calls with the feds while trying to access information about him, or Selig's old files. Ro had been with him each time, and had always somehow helped him out in one way or another. What did it matter that he was an intellectually brilliant machine if he couldn't put the knowledge to good use? He didn't always fit in with the people around him. Ro was so helpful in teaching him the ways of human behavior. Everyday he was with her, he felt more human… but then he'd be drawn back to the cold reality that he was a robot… a machine… 

 "So, what did you get Ro?" Casey asked him. 

His train of thought ended abruptly. He became aware of the fact that Casey and Bucky were no longer arguing. He'd missed out on how their conversation has come to this point.  He thought about the question. What seemed like a simple question was more complex than it seemed. He hadn't bought Ro a gift. He'd bought gifts of Casey and Bucky but not for Ro. It wasn't practical. They had no place to store things. He'd thought that this was apparent between

"Nothing?" he asked sheepishly, unsure if the truth had been the correct answer he should have given. 

"Nothing? Well then… what are you planning on getting her?" Bucky asked. 

Zee paused for a moment the quietly answered, "Nothing," again.

"Nothing?" Bucky repeated a little exasperated. "The contest won't work if you're not in it!" 

 "Contest?" Zee asked curiously. He'd really been spacing out if he missed the part where they had been talking about a contest. 

Casey clued him in, "Yeah. We decided that the best way to decide whose gift really is the best is by having a contest."

"And how does it work?" Zee asked. He couldn't possibly imagine what kind of contest they had come up with.

"I'd thought that each of use was giving Ro a gift… We'd find out whose gift she really likes the most by switching the gift tags—But, it won't be as effective if just  Bucky and I do it, and you don't buy one."  This plan would be super effective as long as Ro didn't get word of it. If she did, she would undoubtedly be put off. The only thing that didn't cross their mind was if Ro was the type to play favorites, and to pretend to like one person's gift far above the others, despite what it was.

"So, you're really not into the buying gifts thing," Bucky asked.

"Not really. But, as Ro said it was customary, I did purchase gifts for you two. She must have told you that already…"

"Well yeah, she said that you'd got each of us something good, but still. Why aren't you shopping for Ro?"

Zee was wondering when it had become a crime for him to not spend money on Ro. He did it every single day of the week, multiple times a day. Why was it such a big deal that he hadn't been planning on getting her a Christmas gift? They were on the road all of the time. They had no place to store frivolous items. If Bucky or Casey had been in their position, he probably wouldn't have bought them anything either. But, they had homes and a place to live. Casey owned his own apartment, and Bucky was staying with some of his buddies in his underground computer hackers group. While Casey had offered to let them stay at his apartment, they had to refuse his offer. It would put him into too much trouble if the feds ever tracked them down there.

"Storing small trinkets makes light travel very difficult," Zee reasoned.

"You know, it's the thought that counts. With the money you got, you don't have to worry that it's only going to get used once…" Bucky commented.

"You don't have to buy her something impractical. You could get her something like chocolates, a clothing item, or even a small piece of jewelry that she could easily keep on her…"Casey suggested.

Their ideas were good, but was it really worth the trouble? He doubted that Ro was buying him anything. "I didn't think that we were going to exchange gifts at all…"

"Are you sure?"

"You have a reason to suspect that we are?" he asked confused. Why was he always left out of the loop like this? If she had bought him a gift he would have known. He paid for everything, and went with her everywhere. Everywhere, except for that last store… 

"Why else do you think she's in there shopping by herself, and for so long?"

Zee wanted to suggest that she was buying something personal, like underwear, but it seemed highly inappropriate to imply. "She might just be shopping on her own accord, as you said you were tired."

"But she didn't want you to come along…" There was no point in trying to deny it. Bucky was probably right. The look that came over his face was that of acute despair. He had to find a gift for her now. Bucky and Casey laughed at their robot friend. It was more than difficult to shop for someone of the opposite sex, especially when they were in the positions that Ro and Zee were in or if they had the same weird relationship that Ro and Zee had.  They pitied him, and smugly thought to themselves that they were glad that they'd already bought their gifts for Ro so they didn't have to be in the same position that he was in now.

"You might want to start looking soon. Time's running out. You've only got 6 days left," Casey pointed out. "And, as much as I'd like to help you out some more, if we gave you more gift ideas, it would defeat the purpose of the contest."

"So you are going to participate, aren't you?" 

Zee didn't see the harm in it, as long as they eventually informed Ro. "It seems harmless," he conceded. 

"Great. Now, maybe one of us should go and check up on Ro and let her know that we're ready to go on. If there was a shoe sale somewhere in the store we can guarantee that we won't be seeing her for at least another hour unless we use some well needed intervention."

Although Casey had made the suggestion, neither he nor Bucky looked like they were going to act on his proposal.  Each seemed content to stay right where they were.  Zee stood up from the table they were sitting at, and started walking towards the department store Ro had gone into. It hadn't occurred to either Bucky or Casey that one of them should got to see how Ro was doing in case she was in the process of buying Zee's gift, or was shopping for it.  They weren't concerned at all about secrecy or privacy when it came to Ro's gift buying. 

 She'd been looking for ideas of what to get him in the other stores, and had found some lame possibilities, but nothing truly meaningful. It also hadn't helped that had constantly been by her side. Even if she had found something, she wouldn't have been able to buy it without his knowledge. She hurried in towards the center of the department store where she couldn't be seen from the outside of the store. She had a limited time to shop before she should come out. She said she was going to be quick, which would usually imply that she would not spend a long time. She approached the back section of the store and began to look around in the men's department. 

While the clerks were generally busy ringing up the other guest's purchases, the line was thinning as it was getting close to closing time. One clerk in particular found time to escape and to go around the store floor asking the customers if they needed assistance. She spotted on in particular who looked like she needed a little assistance; it was a teenaged girl walking around in the middle of the men's department. 

"May I help you?" the clerk asked Ro, the tiredness in her voice was well hidden behind her salesperson smile.

For once, Ro was not annoyed to be bugged by a store clerk. "Maybe… I'm shopping for this guy…"

"Boyfriend? Boss?  Co worker? Brother? Relative? Brief acquaintance?" she asked eagerly

Ro was temporarily for a loss of words. She didn't know what to call the relationship she had with Zee. They were so much more than friends… They'd risked their lives for each other. They were currently stuck running from the government together. For a time, he had been the only family that she'd really had…"

"He's, someone really special."

"Ah… I know just the thing," she said. She then led Ro to a display stand in the middle of the men's section. She picked up one of the store's promotional gift packages and handed it to Ro. Ro looked at the box in her hand. It was a set of really expensive cologne.  "Mustang: It's a new fragrance by the renounced designer Kevin Costello," the clerk informed her.

"I don't think that cologne is really his thing," Ro apologized, handing the package back. She couldn't imagine Zee wearing cologne. With his metallic body… It would just run down and drip onto the floor. Besides, who cares about the designer of the cologne? What matters is how it smells, and more importantly, that she likes the smell. She couldn't imagine a wild horse smelling very good.  Also, it had been one of the promotional gift sets. With how many were out on display surely they were a hot item which meant that everyone else who walked by was probably buying their husbands and boyfriends the same thing. She wanted a unique gift for Zee. Either that, or the store had too many and the clerk was just trying to get rid of them to the first sucker that walked by.

"Perhaps a tie and shirt set?"

That wouldn't be any better. Zee didn't wear clothes. "No…not really…"

Determined to make a sale, the clerk suggested a list of several other gift ideas. But, none of them seemed any better than the smelly horse cologne. "We have gift cards. They come in nice envelopes. You can put any amount on it, and he came come here and pick out something that he likes," the clerk finally suggested. It was a last resort attempt to make a sale. If Ro didn't go for this then she would move on to a more promising customer.

"Maybe, but I think I'd like to look around a little more."

"Just ask for one at the cashier, if you decide to get him one," she said then left Ro. She'd wasted a complete ten minutes with her.

Ro had said that she was sure that she wasn't going to find whatever she was looking for in this store. She began wandering around, her intentions of making her way to the front of the store, but somehow ended up in the tool section of the department store. It was as she was wandering thorough the aisles of tools that she stumbled across a bottle of "Chrome Polish". Underneath his holographic form, Zee was still a machine… Maybe titanium needed to be shined and put through a little maintenance now and then? This would be useful… She didn't want to buy something that he wouldn't have a use for. It wasn't even like they had a house where they could collect clutter in. She picked up the tub and brought it to the cashier's stand. But then she realized what she was buying. It seemed so insensitive. Like she was sealing his fate in the machine world. She knew how much he thought himself to be almost like a human… She didn't bother to return the bottle to the tool section, but lazily left it on another one of the display store shelves. "They get paid to find and put back misplaced items anyway," she reasoned. She had nothing and would have to keep on looking elsewhere. "This is too stressful…" she thought to herself as she began to make her way out of the store again and back towards the table where the guys were waiting for her. As she was getting within view of the tables where the guys were seated, she saw Zee get up and make his way into the store. She quickly ran to greet him. It made sense that he was coming to check up on her. She had been a little longer than she'd expected.

Zee saw Ro hurrying toward him. She wasn't carrying any of the store bags, and she had nothing in her hands. Apparently she hadn't bought anything, and wasn't planning on buying anything. Just to be sure he asked, "Is there anything I need to pay for?" 

"No, I'm fine," Ro quickly says. For some reason she wanted to get out of the store in case Zee's robotic vision really could pick out and identify the bottle that she'd left on the shelf several feet back. 

"Are you done shopping here, then?" he asked next.

"Yeah, they didn't have what I was looking for. Let's go."

While Zee was tempted to ask what it was that she'd been looking for, and whether he could help her find it, if it really was his Christmas gift that she was shopping for he'd better not. He began thinking to himself, "If she didn't buy anything then maybe we still aren't exchanging gifts… But… he'd already agreed to be in the contest with Bucky and Casey. Even if Ro didn't get him something he was still now required to buy her something. There was still six days left, which meant that both he and Ro had some time left to shop.

They came up to the table where Bucky and Casey were waiting. "It's been fun Ro, but I should probably get going. I still have to pack for my trip tomorrow," Casey excused himself. He had spent a considerable amount of his afternoon and evening with them, and really did need to get home sometime soon. This was also a very opportune moment as if he waited to excuse himself, he might find himself window shopping down the other half of the mall which would take a long time. 

"It might be a good idea if we all called it a night," Ro agreed.

As a group they walked out of the mall. Because of the increased business during the shopping season the mall's store hours had been extended by several hours after its regular closing time and before its opening time.  There was still a good three hours before the mall closed, but they would be leaving anyway.  

As they were making their way out, they passed the store display of "Santa's Workshop".  It was really just a bunch of decorated cardboard assembled to look like a scene from the North Pole. Santa's workshop actually resembled a large gingerbread house. Through the open cardboard doors was a large throne. This is where the mall Santa would sit during his scheduled time period. Shoppers could then take their kids to see Santa in his "workshop" and have their picture taken for a fee. Ro had never been to see Santa, and was past the point in her life where she cared that she hadn't.  The workshop was covered in a bed of white "snow" which was mainly compromised of white cotton batting and iridescent glitter scattered all over the top. In the background, the mall's Christmas soundtrack was playing. The same music had been playing for the last two months, over and over again. Every single mall employee had every word of every song memorized, backwards. The current song was a remix of "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas." 

While the music was so subtle above the boisterous crowds of shoppers, it must have subconsciously pressed itself on Ro's mind. As they were passing the display she nonchalantly commented to herself," It'd be nice to have a white Christmas."

"Why not?" Zee asked, overhearing her comment. 

"Really?" Ro asked a little surprised. She didn't think anyone had overheard her wishful thinking, or that they'd make anything of it. "You mean we could rent a cabin in the mountains and play in the snow, and build snowmen, and do all of those fun winter sports?"

"If it's what you want," Zee replied. 

"Man… Now I really wish I didn't have to go away for the week now," Casey commented now that he'd found out that he was going to miss out on a really fun vacation to the snow. 

"Sucks to be you," Bucky couldn't help rubbing it in.

"Who says' you're coming?" Ro asked in a tone where Bucky couldn't tell if she was teasing or serious. 

"It's too late to call tonight, but tomorrow I'll see if any lodge has a cabin for three available."

"Awww…" Ro mumbled sarcastically. She'd been hoping to leave Bucky in suspense a little longer as to whether he was coming with them or not. 

"YEAH!" He exclaimed. He was going!

"My car's parked in the parking garage on Main, so it will be quicker if I leave you guys here and head off this way," Casey said once they got to the mall exit. "Let me know where you'll be staying for Christmas, if you can. If my plane gets back on time, I might be able to turn in my project then come meet you guys or something. I'll give you the number where you can reach me," he added, quickly scribbling the number on a piece of paper then handing it to Ro.

"See you later then," Ro said, hugging her brother goodbye. He shook hands with Zee and slapped Bucky on the back then zipped up his coat and braced himself for the cold chill that had set in while they were shopping then went outside. Zee's car was parked closer to the subway station, as that would be where they were dropping Bucky off. Their car was closer to the North end of the mall than at the east end where Casey had just left them. 

Despite the fact that the mall would be closing in three long hours, the traffic of shoppers and cars in the front of the mall hadn't lessened at all. It was only a little easier to cross the street than it had been when they first came into the mall because there was already an established flow of pedestrians blocking traffic for them. Just as they were getting to the section of the parking lot where the cars were parked, they witnessed Christmas shopping rage at its near peak. There was a car in one of the closer hovering spots, right at the front of the mall that was backing out of its parking space. There was a blue car waiting right behind it, ready to take its hover space as soon as it was clear. However, another car had come down the opposite end of the parking row, and pulled in, taking the blue car's space. The driver of the blue car got out and began to curse at the driver of the other car. The driver was a woman, and while intimidated by the screaming man, would not give up the parking space. 

"Looks like things are going to get ugly," Bucky commented.

"I'll say," Ro agreed.

The woman began shouting for him to get away from her and her car. She attracted the attention of several other shoppers, but no one wanted to get involved. The man certainly didn't look like the kind of person you'd want to mess with if there was still something in your life worth living for. Seeing that he was making a scene, and that she was not going to give up the parking space, he got back into his car, as if he was going to leave.

 "Hmph!" Ro snorted. Some people are so hot tempered!" 

However, the man did not drive off, but came out of his car holding a crowbar in one hand. The woman began to scream even louder. No one dared approach the man now that he was armed, but word did spread quickly, and someone got the idea that they might want to go inside and inform mall security. 

"This can't be good," Ro said.

The man approached the woman's car. It looked like he was going to break some of her windows, or maybe he was just going to be a good neighbor and give her car a nice sun roof with the crowbar he was holding.  The woman backed away from her car, fearful for her own life.

The man's anger was still very fierce he raised the crowbar in preparation to break one of the windows. As he brought his arm down to break the window he didn't hear the sound of shattering glass, but a loud metallic "CLANG" sound. 

"I wouldn't do that," Zee warned him, having stuck his arm in the way. 

Scared, and surprised, the man dropped the crowbar and hurried into his car. This was no mere mortal man… He got into his car very quickly, and was going to drive off. However, Zee stepped out in front of the car. It would be unwise to let this man speed off, especially with his fired temper. For all they knew, he might try to make another attempt at breaking the woman's windows in an hour. Also, road rage was bad enough; he certainly didn't need to be on the road fueling it even more. His idea was to have him wait until the mall security came to take care of things. And, while he had been unsuccessful because Zee had stopped him, he had fully intended on doing damage to the woman's car.  

However, rather than wait around for the security to get him into further trouble for his rage, the man didn't feel like sitting around. He honked his horn repeatedly, and made several lurches towards Zee-warnings for him to get out of the way. But, Zee remained where he was. It was at that moment that the man simply started driving anyway. Seeing that he wasn't going to stop, Zee had to jump up on the hood of the car to not get run over. It made a large dent in the hood of the car, as Zee was not a simple organic human. 

            Frightened by having the strange metal man now on the hood of his car, the man began to swerve back and forth as he was driving around the parking lot, trying to get the creature off of his hood. Zee's fingers contracted into sharp claws which he dug into the side of the car to hold on. 

"Come on, we've got to help him!" Ro said, as they began to run after the car. 

"What did you have in mind?" Bucky asked. Ro realized that running after the car was pointless if they didn't have any strategy. It also didn't help that the car weighed several hundred times more than both of them combined.

"We'll think of something! Just come on!"

The sirens from the mall security cars could be heard off in the distance. They were coming, and quickly. Zee knew that he had to some how stop this car soon. All of the people in the parking lot were in danger, as well as the other cars and drivers that were still moving around. 

Zee pulled himself up higher onto the hood. The window on the driver's side was down half way. Zee released his grip on the right side of the car, and lifted his hand up slightly. He guided his electronic cable through the window to the command port that was just on the left side of the dashboard inside of the car. In only a second, the car came to a sudden halt. 

Just as the man was trying rip Zee's cable out of the port he went flying forward. Zee himself was nearly launched off of the hood of the car. He quickly pulled himself up and began to run away from the scene, as the mall security was approaching. If they recognized him, the NSA would be there in no time. Several hundred feet away, he saw Ro and Bucky running towards him. He hurried to meet them, then to get back to their car and away from the city. Perhaps they should book their snow vacation out of state for the time being…

            "Are you okay?" Ro asked, concernedly.

            "Of course he is.  I think you should be asking if the driver is okay."

            "If he isn't, the mall security is taking care of things right now."

            "So in other words, we need to scram and quickly."

"It would be wise," Zee suggested.

            They hurried to the place where they'd parked the car. Rather than dropping Bucky off at the subway, they all jumped into the car. Zee started the car, then put as much distance between the mall and themselves. 

            "So where are we going?" Ro asked him after they'd been traveling for an hour.

            "I was thinking that Colorado is the place to go if you want to try skiing."

            "Whatever's good," Ro said. She stayed up another hour before she eventually fell asleep in the driver's side of the car. Bucky leaned over and fell asleep on the back seat of the car. It would take several hours to get to Colorado, and they would be traveling all night long. But, as Zee didn't' sleep regularly, they would be able to make the trip in a matter of a day and a half. 

            "So, you want to tell us why you were driving with a man on your hood? We have several witnesses saying that they saw you intentionally try to run him over first," one of the mall security team members confronted the man after having handcuffed him and brought him to the mall holding station.

            "He's not a man! He had this tentacle thing that came out of his hand! A monster!" the man said unpleasantly. He was not happy at being convicted.

            "That still doesn't explain why you were driving around with him on your car hood."

            "He completely ruined my car! He dented my hood and punctured several holes in each side!"

            "After you decided to give him a little hood surfing time."

            "He jumped on top of my hood! I did not approve at all! In fact, I was trying to take the clown over to you guys so you could tell him to get off!"

            "Save it for the lawyers, buddy. The way I see it he jumped on your hood to prevent getting run over."

            "He wouldn't get out of the way. He refused to let me by."

            "And why is that?"

            The man remained silent, "I'm not saying anything without a lawyer."

            "We have the whole scene on surveillance camera. There's no point in lying to us. You were trying to break that lady's window. She's already testified of your acts. The way I'm looking at it, you're going to be doing some time in jail."

            "No I won't. I didn't break the window, so you got no charges against me."

            "There's still the issue of the driving that man around on your car hood."

            "But he's not here filing a complaint, now is he?"

            The security guard had to admit that he had a point. The woman as well as the mall security would try to press charges as he was a hazard and disturbed the peace, but without the actual victim, it would be hard to get a full account of what had happened or a real testimony. This man could probably just say that they were being rebellious and were hood surfing for pleasure, rather than as a violent act.  Jail seemed less likely to happen. Most likely, they would be assigning him community service for his egregious act. 

            "Also…" the man continued, "There's nothing you can do. This isn't any mortal man… he's metal. Probably a robot. And you know what a robot's testimony is worth…"

            Nothing. It was worth nothing. No one really held robots testimonies to be credible in a court of law. There were just too many ways that it could be altered or reprogrammed. Unless the robot had been isolated according to security procedures, its testimony would be worthless. Given the fact that it had spent some time away from the crime scene, anyone could have reprogrammed its memory to believe a different story. 

            So this was justice… The man was well near going to get away clean. 

            "A robot did you say?" one of the other security guards asked.

            "What of it?"

            "Nothing," the man said, then left the room. He went to his computer and sat down and began a quick search. In a matter of seconds the NSA's files of "Most Wanted" appeared on the screen. Near the top was the solemn face of Zeta and his alter-appearance Zee.  Upon scrolling down the screen a little bit, there was a mug shot of his accomplice.

            "Ben, you want to come here and have a look at this?" he called to the other room.

            Ben came over in a few minutes. He wasn't in any real big hurry. "What do you got there?" he asked casually. He bent over to look at the screen. "My word…"

            "It might not be the same guy though. There could be several of them out on the streets and we wouldn't be able to tell them apart…"

            "Was the girl with him?"

            "We'd have to look at the footage again."

            "Well hurry! Get to it!"

            The guard grumbled. Here he'd made the discovery and now he was stuck doing the nit gritty work. He moved to another computer where he brought up the surveillance files. He selected the date, and time period then began to quickly preview the tape. It was convenient to have the technology to be able to digitally capture everything and store it on a computer.  He found the approximate time period where the incident had occurred. He saw Zee, the man, and the woman, but not the accomplice. He tried switching to another camera, but the view was blocked by the on going traffic and other pedestrians. He then fast forwarded through the tape, constantly checking for the girl. Nothing. Near the end of the tape, he saw Zee get off of the hood of the car and start running from the scene. He zoomed in to where he was running toward. There were two people, not one. Unfortunately, they were so far away, he couldn't even tell if one of them was her or not. He showed the footage to Ben. "Should we call them anyway?" the guard asked.

            Ben thought for a moment, "Nah, don't bother them. Probably not the ones. This guy's probably making the whole thing up as well."

            It wasn't until the article hit the newspapers the next morning that another law enforcement agency picked up on the fact that the man had claimed the person riding on his hood wasn't a man, but a robot. They called the mall and asked if they might review the footage recorded yesterday.  They data was sent to them online, where it took approximately .01 seconds to download.  

            "The girl isn't with him," the person reviewing the file commented.

            "What about before he left the mall. Was anyone with him then?"

            "I'll request to have the files sent over."

            After the request was made several other large files were sent over. They were done downloading before he'd even raised his finger from clicking the mouse.  He scanned the footage as he traced Zee's actions back into the mall. With the better camera views they were able to pick up the fact that he did have his accomplice with him, and someone else. "Better call the NSA and let them know he was here."

            "I'll get right on it."

"Bucky, and Ro… Did you see which way they went?" Bennet asked the two men after arriving at their office shortly. 

"No. The video footage was taken at the mall a short ways from here."

"Those idiots…" Bennet muttered. If they'd called in earlier, he might have stood a better chance at finding Zeta before he got too far away. It'd been several hours since the incident. They could be anywhere. "Thank you gentlemen you've done a great service to your country."

Bennet then left them in their office after collecting the footage for his own personal review. When he got back to the ship he began the process of scanning for all purchases made in the area. After an hour of searching through the information, they found that they'd bought a couple of tickets to see a ballet, about a dozen rose bouquets, and a couple of bills for local diners and hotels, but not large travel expenditures.  "There's got to be some clue where they went!" Bennet grumbled. He began to screen the tape again in reverse. There was Ro, Bucky and Zeta. They left the mall. The blue car pulled up, and had a dispute with the driver. Zeta stopped the man from breaking the window… Bennet couldn't really understand why, but that didn't matter. His orders were to retrieve the synthoid. The man was driving around with Zeta on his hood. The car stopped, and Zeta ran off out of sight of the camera's view. There was no way of knowing where he'd gone next. While he was heading off in the direction of the subway, no subway tokens had been purchased. And he'd specifically asked for the direct record from the station so that he didn't have to wait for the report to come in days later. 

Frustrated, he went back to the beginning of the scene. From there he continued to back track. They were in the mall. They were walking in reverse as he played the tape backwards… They stopped… Someone else was with him. It was that one person he'd had a short experience with. Ro's brother, Casey… "Get the personnel manager from San Francisco Chronicle on the phone!" he instructed one of his agents.

A minute later, he was speaking to Mr. Carmichael himself. He was a very down to business man and disliked the interruption of his very important meeting. But as this was a call from the NSA, how could he tell them to hold?"

"Mr. Carmichael, this is Agent Bennet of the NSA. I'd like to speak to one of your journalists, specifically Mr. Rowen."

"Casey? He's out on an assignment right now. Can I have you leave a message at the receptionist's extension for him when he gets back?"

"I'm afraid it's more urgent than that. Could you tell me where his accommodations are, and how I can reach him?"

"I'll have you transferred to someone who can," Mr. Carmichael said, brusquely. He was a business man. It was not his job to baby sit the employees. 

"Please. Oh, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell Mr. Rowen of this conversation."

"Right…" Mr. Carmichael then looked at the buttons on the vid phone. He had no idea how to operate the phone. He looked longingly at his secretary. She rolled her chair over and pressed the buttons that directed the call to the journalist department. The image of Mr. Carmichael disappeared and the secretary for the human resources director of the journalists department appeared. 

"This is Agent Bennet of the NSA. I need the accommodation and contact information for Mr. Rowen…"

"I called several lodges to see what their availability to rent out a cabin is."

"And?" Ro asked. It would be really pointless to have driven all the way out to Colorado with no place to stay.

"Apparently it's a really popular thing to come skiing around Christmas time. The larger townhouses and most of the economy cabins are booked already. The receptionist informed me that they didn't have any cabins that could accommodate three people left."

"So we came here for nothing?"

"Not quite. She said that she did have a honeymoon cottage that sleeps two. It's not a very popular choice as she said most of the people are coming to ski and not to lounge around inside all day for its expensive price. She did say that for an extra 500 creds a night she'd have someone bring a cot in so one of us could sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor."

"How thoughtful of her… Well that's not really a problem. You don't sleep in a bed."

"I was aware of that when I made the reservation. We can check in after 2:00 this afternoon."

"Great!" Bucky spoke up. "Sleeping in the back of this car has not been an enjoyable experience."

It was only another two hours of driving time before they reached the resort. Ro's ears had already popped twice as they began the uphill climb up the mountain. It didn't seem like they were climbing that much, but they continued to pass the signs with the elevations on it, and the numbers were steadily increasing. 

"Is there going to be any snow?" Ro asked as they continue driving. They were climbing higher and higher, but she wasn't seeing any white powdery substance covering the ground like she'd expected.   

"The receptionist assured me that there was plenty."

"Can we get our money back if there isn't?"

After a few more minutes of driving, Ro began to see the signs of snow on the ground. It actually wasn't really snow. It was just a large dirty mound of snow or hardened ice off to the side of the road from where the snow blower had cleared the roads.  As cars hovered over the ground there the purpose of a snow blower might seem a little superfluous as cars didn't have to worry about traction, or snow chains. However, if enough snow were to get packed down between the road and the bottom of the car it might suspend the car on the top of the snow, making it unable to move.  There also was a certain density required for the anti gravity field underneath the car for it to be able to function efficiently. It was the same reason why the cars didn't hover too well over water: the water wasn't dense enough. Snow was a little better, but not by much.

As they continue further up the mountain, there were patches of snow on the hills side. Then the patches became blankets, and the next thing they knew, they were driving through Ro's fantasy winter wonderland. Bucky reached behind him and pulled up the covering for the car when little snowflakes began to fall into the car.

A half hour after two, Zee's car pulled up to the registration office at the lodge. He was inside for a minute or two, then came out with a small map of the lodge, and directions to their cabin. More importantly, he had the key to the cabin. There were Hadley any cars parked in front of the other cabins that they passed by. Most of the people must be out skiing or playing in the snow elsewhere.

 Zee parked the car. They didn't have any baggage to unload, which was both good a bad. It was nice not to have to make several trips from the cabin to the car, but it then meant that they would have to buy everything. Zee got out of the car and went to unlock the cabin. Tired of sitting in the car for such a long time Ro opened the door and stepped out. She had only been on her feet for a second before she found herself sitting on her butt in a patch of black ice. Zee turned around immediately, and hurried to help her up. Bucky couldn't help but laugh hysterically until he got out on his half of the car, and slipped only a few seconds later, landing on his backside.

The problem with black ice was that it looked like the road was just simply wet, or icy. The fact that the ice was incredibly slick was unobservable from just glancing at it. It also didn't help that their car didn't give any indications that they were driving over it as it simply hovered over the ice without any problem. 

"I forgot to tell you. The receptionist said to watch out for black ice."

"Thanks for the warning…I think I've changed my mind…" Ro griped, rubbing her sore butt. After Zee had helped her off of the ground she noticed that hooks extending from the arch of his foot were clamped into the ground securely. Sometimes she wished that she was a robot…

Not to hurt his pride any more than it already was, Bucky picked himself off of the ground. Carefully placing each foot in front of the other he made his way to the cabin. Zee stayed by Ro's side in case she should slip again and he needed to catch her.  The inside of the cabin was fairly cold. That would be amended as soon as Zee could start the fire. First he was going to make sure that the roof was secure. It would really stink if it wasn't and snow got inside of the car. 

Ro looked around the cabin. It was only a single floor. They'd passed several large two story townhouses that looked as if they cold hold up to sixteen people at least. Their cabin was modest in size, though, and they had been lucky to get it at all. It was also well furnished. There was a large Jacuzzi tub in the bathroom even. The kitchen had handsome oak cabinets with stained glass windows on the front. The whole atmosphere was very cozy.

Zee came inside after securing the car. Following him was one of the lodge's helpers carrying a large cot. Ro couldn't help but notice that he was very cute.  Unfortunately he wasn't interested in staying long as he simply set the cot down in the middle of the floor then got in his truck and left. 

"Shut the door!" Ro said through chattering teeth. She hadn't really noticed the cold coming in from the car, but since the door had been left open for a long time, she was really shivering now. Zee promptly closed the door then proceeded to light the fire. "It's cold in here…" 

"You big baby," Bucky insulted her.

As soon as the fire was lit, Ro planted herself in front of it. "If we want to use any more wood than what's in there, we'll have to go and fetch it ourselves. We can pick up anything that's already, but we aren't allowed to cut down live trees. You want to come with me and carry some back?"

"Me?" Bucky asked.

"You said that you didn't mind the cold," Zee commented. He was getting revenge for Ro.

"I didn't really say that…I just said that Ro…"

Zee wouldn't hear any of his excuses. Ro sat by the fire until they returned in twenty minutes, each carrying an arm load of wood. "You owe me," he told Ro.

"You're the one who wanted to come."

"We should go and get you guys some winter coats and gloves. Some of the returning skiers said that there was a shop somewhere up the road a little ways. When you're warmed up we can go shopping there."

"Sounds good. I'm freezing!" Ro got up from in front of the fire. She was toasty warm after having sat there for a complete half hour. 

Bucky pouted at having to go outside again. He hadn't warmed up. 

Two hours later the group returned to the cabin. Ro was dressed in a nice leather coat with fur lining and collar. She had a lovely scarf and knit hat as well as a comfortable pair of mittens and snow boots. Bucky had an oversized ski jacket. They didn't have many fashionable children's jackets so he'd settled with something oversized rather than childish in appearance. He also had a pair of snow boots. Zee looked like he'd gone on a shopping spree, but had just changed his holomorphic projection. Ro had teased him that he should go around in shorts and a T-shirt just because it didn't make a difference.

While they'd been at the store they'd also stopped by the local grocery and had picked up some things to make dinner with. While other skiers were camping out in the cabins eating their cup of noodles and macaroni and cheese, Zee was preparing a culinary feast.  They planned what they were going to do the next day. Ro decided that she wanted to try ice skating, and definitely some play time in the snow. 

It wasn't until they were ready to climb into bed that Ro realized that there weren't two separate beds, but one large king sized bed. She'd have to share with Bucky or he'd have to sleep on the cot.

"Heck no! You know that cold air sinks. No way am I sleeping on the floor!" Bucky had protested.

They ended up sharing the bed, but were in a subconscious cover fight throughout the entire night. Each was clinging as far to their edge of the bed as was possible. In the middle of the night, Ro nearly rolled off the bed on multiple accounts because she was trying to stay as far away from Bucky as possible. Zee couldn't help but laugh to himself as he watched the scene throughout the night. He was lucky that he didn't sleep. 

            He began to wonder about Casey. Sometime they'd have to call him and would let him know where they were staying. He thought about what he was going to get Ro for Christmas. There hadn't been a whole lot at the shop that they'd visited. There was a large town another hour away. It was only an hour because it took so long to drive down the mountain slope. With the way he drove, he might cut that time to forty minutes. He could leave right now and be back before Ro woke up, but he didn't want to leave her, or Bucky, by themselves. Also, no mall was going to be open at this time of night. There didn't seem to be any time to go shopping with Ro wanting to play in the snow all day long.

There was some small hope though. It was customary to have a tree to decorate and place presents under for Christmas. As they weren't allowed to cut down any live trees he could rationalize making a trip to the city to buy one. Maybe if Ro got tired early they could do that sometime tomorrow or the day after. It would be in that time that he would try to squeeze in a little shopping time himself. Ro certainly wouldn't object. He wondered what Bucky was going to do about his presents. Zee's gifts for Casey and Bucky were at Casey's apartment. When he called to let him know where they were staying, he'd ask him to bring them up with him. Bucky would have to save his gifts to Ro and Casey for until they got back after Christmas. In their rush to get away from the mall, Zee hadn't thought to stop by Bucky's residence. In fact, he didn't even really realize where he was staying, as the hackers he was staying with didn't want to be found by the government for their own reasons. They weren't too popular with them because of some of the things they'd hacked into online.

The next morning, Ro and Bucky woke up from a poor night's sleep.  They got dressed. Ro had wrapped herself up in three layers of clothes. She still felt cold, but Zee assured her she would get warmer when she started moving around. They then had breakfast then filed into the car and drove up the mountain. Further up the mountain from the lodge they were staying at, they'd been informed was a large skiing facility. They were told that they could take a gondola up to the top of the mountain where there was an outdoor skating rink set up. 

            Zee paid for the tickets to ride the gondola up, as well as for their ice skate rental. There were several other skiers and snowboarders who were riding in the gondola as well. The gondola itself was a large enclosed box that was suspended by a large metal arm, hooked onto a thick cable that ran from the top of the mountain to the skiing lodge where they'd initially got on.

            Ro's stomach lurched when the gondola took off. She counted the number of people in the car, then multiplied the number by the approximate weight of 150 lbs each.  The number was more than she cared to add up. The mountain winds were blowing slightly and the gondola swayed back and forth. "I'm going to die…" Ro wailed. The ground below them got increasingly further away as the gondola ascended higher up. Amidst the snow there were large rocks and occasional trees scattered on the ground below them. If the cable snapped, it would not be a soft landing. 

            Zee's eyes scanned the cable and the components that were holding the gondola to the cable. There were not apparent signs of weakness.  "The integrity of the structure is withholding according to specified capacity," he informed Ro.

            His tone of voice didn't sound concerned, so she took that to mean that things looked okay. It wasn't too reassuring though.

            "Don't worry," Bucky said, jumping up and down in the gondola. "See? It's okay?"

            Ro's fingers turned white from how hard she was holding onto the side rail in the gondola. Several other people in the gondola looked over at Bucky. While they had been fine before his jumping up and down began to eat at their confidence. "Besides," Bucky continued, "you know how we took that elevator up two floors to get to the gondola?"

            "Yeah?" Ro squeaked. Had she mentioned to Zee that she was afraid of heights when he bought the tickets. Surely there was another skating rink somewhere.... 

            "The elevator has a weight limit counter that's equal to the one that the gondola has. If the alarm went off when it was carrying people up, then we would have known that it was too much weight for the gondola. But it didn't, so things are okay."

            It took an eternity for the gondola to get up to the top. Ro pushed her way through the people to be the first one to get off. Zee and Bucky followed closely behind.  There were only a few other people using the skating rink when they got there. Ro laced up her skates.  Bucky had requested that he have the hockey style of skates that had a sharper blade and no toe pick. The main reason for this was that the other style seemed less masculine in appearance. Zee didn't rent any skates. He was equipped to function in all terrains. Two small blades came out of the bottom of his foot. He then used his holomorphic projector to change the appearance of his shoes to look like he was wearing a pair of skates.

            "You know, I've never done this before," Ro commented as she was lacing up her skates.

            "Me neither," Zee added.

            "It's just like hoverblading," Bucky insisted. As he had been ice skating before and Ro hadn't he now felt like an expert on the subject. 

            Ro had been hoverblading before. It had been really easy to pick up. Maybe she could do this after all. When they got to the rink Bucky easily stepped onto the ice and began to do lap all of the other people who were skating. "I can do this," Ro told herself. 

            She stepped out onto the ice. It was nothing like hoverblading. There was no traction whatsoever. She tried pushing on the sides of her skates as she did for hoverblading, but  she didn't move forward. Her skates began to spread apart side ways. She would be in danger of doing the splits in a moment. Zee came up behind her. He'd certainly picked up the knack for it immediately…

            "You need to grip into the ice with the sides harder."

            "I'm trying…" Ro pouted. Rather than do the splits, she ended up just falling forward. Zee bent over and picked her up.  "Just try to walk on the ice first. Like you were walking on a street."

            Ro did as he had instructed. Miraculously she was moving in a forward direction. Zee guided her to the side rail of the rink so that she could hold onto it for balance. After she'd mastered walking he held her hand as she tried to skate around the rink. With him helping her and instructing her, she began to pick up ice skating really well and eventually let go of his hand. No sooner as she had done so did she nearly fall on her butt again. Zee was behind her to catch her, however. 

            "So how is it that you became an excellent skating instructor?" She asked him once she got the hang of it. It actually was a little like hoverblading…

            "It's all physics," he told her, "Also, I have an equilibrium compass built inside of me that lets me know where to place my center of gravity."

            One more reason why being a robot wasn't that bad… 

            Bucky  had passed her several times while she had been practicing. This time when he came by he stopped abruptly in front of them, spraying a thin sheet of ice into her face. "BUCKY!!!" Ro cursed him. She wiped the snow out of her face.

            "So, have you spent more time on your feet than on your butt yet?" he snootily asked her. 

            Ro reached out to push him over, but ended up just pushing him backwards on the ice; nearly falling on her face if Zee hadn't caught her. "See you around!" he taunted, then continued to skate around the rink backwards, just to show off.

            "Ooohhh…" she grumbled. 

            "Ignore him. You're doing very well for your first time. And all that matters is that you have a good time while you're out here. Regardless of what he's doing or what he says."

            "You're right," she agreed. "Is it easy to skate backwards?" she asked.

            "I'll teach you," he offered. He turned her around then took her hands in his. He instructed her how to move her feet, then began to push her backwards around the rink. There were several other skaters who were less skilled than Ro, and several more that were at the competitive level of skating. These people stuck to the center of the ring and practiced doing spins and jumps. Even Bucky wasn't as good as these people were. 

            Turning back around while she was skating was very difficult, but she eventually managed. With Zee holding her hands for balance she even practiced some arabesques and levers. She was having a lot of fun pretending that she was a real figure skater.  If anyone had asked if they were practicing for a couple's skating match she would have been embarrassed that she was drawing that much attention, and would have told them no. But no one asked. They all did notice her, though, and thought that she was very cute with her, boyfriend?,  as they went around the rink together. Bucky had to ruin the fun by commenting on how goofy she looked as she clearly wasn't up to competition standards. 

            Laughing he began to skate away from them. Luckily his back was turned so he didn't see Zee stick his skate out and trip him. Bucky fell flat on his front, then skidded for a couple of feet until he came to a stop at the side of the wall. Ro was laughing now, while Zee looked innocently away from Bucky as he pulled himself up. His brushed the snow off of his front. A small amount had already soaked into his pants. With the small wind factor it suddenly felt extremely cold. Knowing that he'd just been put in his place he skated away without any more comments.

            In a few minutes the announcer requested to have the ice cleared for the Zamboni machine to come out and smooth out the ice top. It wasn't that much fun to continue skating afterwards. There were spots of water on the ice so if anyone fell into them they would get soaked. After falling into one of these and not really having it dry out, Ro decided to quit for the day. It also didn't help that the ice was really slick again.  Bucky was done skating as well. 

            When Ro took off her skate she had a small blister on the back of her left heel. After putting on her shoes it felt weird to walk around on the ground. Her feet felt sluggish and walking seemed to require more effort than usual.

            "You had enough fun for a day?" Zee asked her.

            "I think so."

            This was good. He could suggest going to town now… "I know it's customary to get a tree for Christmas. There's a town not to far away that we could try to find one at… There's a mall there too. We might even go out to dinner."

            A mall. She could shop for Zee's gift… "Sounds good."

            "Awwww…" Bucky groaned.

            "If you're pleasant, you can pick one item from one of the shops we stop at," Zee bribed him.

            It as only moderately appealing compared with what he'd be putting up with. "I guess…"

            Unbeknownst to Ro they were walking back to the direction of the gondola. The station came into view shortly. "Oh no. We are not going on that thing again!" 

            "This is the suggested alternative mode of transportation for getting down the mountain if you're not skiing or snowboarding."

            "I don't care if I have to sit on a trash can lid and ride that the whole way down. I do not want to go on it again."

            Zee looked at Bucky wondering what they should do. They could rent some skis at the top and ski down together, if Ro or Bucky knew how to ski… 

"Don't look at me!" Bucky told him.

            "Hey, I couldn't help but overhear, and thought that I might be able to help," a young man approached the group.

             Zee turned to see who it was. It was a stranger, someone he did not recognized. Immediately he was a little wary. It could just be another agent…

Once he saw that he had their attention, especially Ro's, he continued, "I've got my hovermobile here at the top of the mountain. Been taking it around on the trails.  I could give you ride down if your party didn't mind waiting for you at the bottom," he spoke to Ro.

"Sounds great!" she said eagerly. This hot, young guy was offering her a ride on the back of his hovermobile!

"It might not be safe," Zee commented. 

"I've got a spare helmet. Always do, just for times like these," he winked at Ro.

"Then it's settled, see you at the bottom guys."

"Great, I'll go get it warmed up. I'll meet you back here in a minute," he said, then left.

When he was out of hearing range, Zee spoke up. "I don't think you should go with him. He could be an agent."

"Too young. He doesn't strike me as the type who'd wear a uniform. Besides, he'd be after you, not me."

"Unless they wanted to use you to get to me," Zee thought. He'd do anything to prevent anything bad from happening to her.

"Agent West is very young," he commented.

"That's West though. Probably had nothing better to do with his life. Look, I'll be fine. We'll meet you at the bottom in a few minutes." 

The young man returned with the helmet, "Here you go my lady," he said handing it to Ro. She put it on, it fit perfectly.

            "See ya!" she parted. 

            Zee watched he leave with the young man… He was feeling… envious and jealous. Spite… "Come on, let's hurry up and get on the next gondola before it leaves. They only run every fifteen minutes…"

            Bucky didn't think muck of Ro going off with the guy. She was capable of making decisions about her own safety. He had no idea or any hint of Zee's internal feelings for her. If he did, he might have laughed, "A synthoid and a human? What's the world coming to?"

            From the gondola Zee's robotic eyes zoomed in on the mountain slope. He was scanning the terrain, looking for any sign of Ro and the boy. He spotted them, they were half way down the mountain already. He was driving incredibly fast, passing up several of the skiers.  He could see Ro on the back seat, her arms wrapped tightly around his waist… But how could he blame her. It wasn't possible for things to work out with them. At least they were friends. He'd cherish every moment of it.

            Ro and the boy beat them down to the bottom of the slope that carved its way all down the mountain. When Ro took her helmet off, she had a bad case of hat hair. She began to run her fingers through to straighten it out. "Thanks a lot," she told him.

            "No problem, maybe we could do it again some other time," he offered.

            Ro was going to say that it'd be a lot of fun, but then she saw that the gondola had just docked. Zee and Bucky would be looking for her. She should probably go meet them. "It'd be fun, but we've made other plans. Thanks again, though," she said, handing him his helmet back. He tightened it back onto the rear seat of his hovermobile.

            "Hope to run into you again sometime," he said then drove off.

            Feeling rather happy, Ro went to meet Zee. A relieved expression came over his face when he saw that she was safe. "Where'd he go?" he asked Ro.

            "Oh, he took off," she said simply. "Now, let's get going."

            It bugged Zee to just drop the issue like that, but Ro was with him again, he had no more reason to complain. They returned to the car and drove down to the city. The first thing they did was go to a Christmas tree farm as it closed earlier than the other stores. Ro carefully examined every tree until she found what she deemed to be the "perfect" tree. It was nine feet tall, dark green, and was cut perfectly triangular from all views. It also had no bare spots, and had a long twig at the top to put a star or angel on.

            "We just need someone to come cut it for us…"

            In a second, Zee was under the tree. His radial arm saw cutting through the base of the tree. Bucky ducked out of the way as the tree came crashing down. With ease, he then picked up the entire tree from the middle and carried it to the netting station. They bagged the tree, and fresh cut the end, as well as fit the end with a tree stand. He then went to the check out to pay for it, and have them tie it to the top of their car.  When it came time to tie the tree down, the tree trimmer pointed out that with the large size of the tree, and the fact that their roof was collapsible they might want to reconsider having it tied to the top, but rather set diagonally across the back seat with the top hanging out the passenger side window. Ro didn't really mind, but Bucky had to sit in the back with a branch of pine needles in his face. 

            "Oh suck it up," you'll only have to put up with it for a little while," Ro smirked when he began to complain. "You're the one who wanted to come, anyway… Next we need decorations!" Ro changed the subject.           

            They stopped at one of the all purpose shops in the mall that had a large variety of Christmas tree decorations. Ro began to select a variety of ornaments that she thought was really pretty, but consistent with her selected theme. They were going to have the Hallmark Christmas tree where every ornament was color and style coordinated with each other as well as with the trim and the tree blanket. 

            "Now for the tree top ornament…"

            "How's this?" Zee asked. He'd picked up a small angel. It had beautiful feather wings and a lovely chiffon dress with beads and sequins. Most noticeably, it had a small face with short blonde hair. It reminded him of Ro. That was probably why he liked it so much. 

            Rather than immediately telling him that it wouldn't do because it didn't go with the theme, Ro gazed at the angel. While Zee didn't usually have a good eye for what was fashionable, this angel was beautiful. This angel was special now. Zee had picked this angel out from all of the others. This would be his first Christmas. He needed something to make it memorable. "It's perfect," she told him, then hugged his arm. The materialism of designing a perfect tree had left her. She was overcome with a new sensation, one more long lasting and deeper than having an aesthetically perfect Christmas tree. She set her basket of ornaments down. "Let's just get this," she told him.

            He couldn't understand the change that had come over Ro. It shocked him. She had a complete basket full of ornaments already picked out and now she was just going to leave with just this one angel?  He knew that he was missing something.  "Is it the price? You know I can afford all of this…"

            "No. It's not that… The angel is enough. We don't need this other garb."

            "I thought decorating the tree was part of the tradition."

            "It is, but it's not a requirement."

            This was one of those things where he accepted her wisdom and let things stand. Ro let him carry the angel up to the check out. The clerk looked at them quizzically. Most people at this time had dozens of dozens of items to be rung up. But, who was she to tell people what to buy and not what to buy? She charged him for their purchase then put the angel in a bag and handed it to them with a smile, "Happy Holidays," she wished them a religiously safe seasonal slogan. 

            Neither of them had done any shopping outside of each other's company. He was still without a gift, and Ro was almost wishing that she had bought the chrome polish. At least she would have something to give him at least, even if it wasn't perfect. Then again, they hadn't brought any other gifts up with them. Maybe they wouldn't be doing an exchange after all. There was only two complete days before Christmas. He was running out of time. He'd spent a day and a half driving to Colorado then they'd checked in. And they'd just spent the entire day skating and going to the city. It didn't seem likely that he'd have another chance to go shopping. 

            Back at the car, they drove to a restaurant where they sat down and had a nice dinner. Before it got too dark they returned to the cabin. Zee easily carried in the tree and set it down in the corner of the room. The ceilings in the cabin were fortunately sloped. Ro hadn't thought to measure the ceiling before she'd gone looking for a tree. She was glad that it fit.

Ro had brought the angel in from the car. She handed it to him. He carefully removed it from its package throwing away the twisty ties that had secured her to her box. While he was naturally tall he still had to extend his arms by about a foot to be able to reach the top of their tree. 

He stepped back to admire it. Even though it was plain, it wasn't boring. It was too late for them to call Casey. They'd call early in the morning tomorrow and let him know how things were going.  Ro and Bucky reluctantly got ready for bed again. Nothing had changed so they were sure they were going to have a repeat of last night.

            Ro woke up exceptionally early the next morning. While she was still tired she didn't want to spend another moment in bed in her discomfort. "Good morning," Zee said brightly. The sun was barely beginning to rise. Bucky was still fast asleep on his half of the bed. "Have you decided what you want to do today?" he asked.

            "Not yet. Too early to say," she replied, helping herself to breakfast from their groceries.

            "We should probably call Casey and let him know where we're staying."

            "Right, he gave me the number where we could reach him," she said, as got up to fish the slip of paper out of her pant's pocket which she'd left folded on the floor next to the bed. "Is there a phone here, or do we have to go to town again?" she asked.

            "There's one at the lodge. Care to walk with me there?"

            "Sure, we can leave a note for Bucky, telling him that we'll be back shortly."

            Ro put on her coat and stepped out into the crisp morning air. Zee locked the door behind them, making sure he had the key to get back in first. Ro loved the sound of the fresh fallen snow going "crunch, crunch" beneath her feet. There were only a few people up this early. Die hard skiers who wanted to be first on the mountain. They had just barely begun to load their sport utility vehicles. This was the last day to go skiing. Afterwards, the resorts would be closed until the day after Christmas. 

            They walked side by side, until impulsively, Ro reached out and linked her arm with Zee. She stuck her hand in her pockets, then continued to walk this way until they reached the lodge office. Neither said much to each other, as each was thinking of how nice it was just to be walking in the fresh snow like this. 

            When they got to the phone, they found that it was just a simple vid booth built onto the outside of the office. It charged a ridiculously high fee as well because of the long distance the phone call would be. Even a call to the nearest town cost several creds per minute. They both squeezed inside of the booth, leaving the door behind them open, other wise, they'd have had no way to get out.  Zee swiped his cred card, then Ro dialed the hotel where Casey was staying. They hoped that he'd still be there, and that he hadn't left yet. If he did they'd have to try again in the afternoon. With the time adjustment, however, they should be able to reach him just as he's finished breakfast. 

            Just as he was putting his tray outside of the hotel room to be picked up by room service, the phone rang. As every call he received was important, he went over the phone and pressed the on button for the telephone viewer screen. "Hello?" he asked.

            "Hey! Just thought we'd drop you a line," Ro said cheerfully. 

            "How are things going?" he asked eagerly. 

            "Been playing in the snow a little," Ro told him. "I went ice skating yesterday for the first time."

            "You sore then?"

            "Just a little…" 

            Casey changed the subject temporarily, "Is Bucky there with you?" he asked. He just saw Zee and Ro in the picture on the viewing screen.

            "Nah. Still sleeping at the cabin. Didn't want to wake him up. He had a hard day yesterday… He was falling down all over the place! I'd say he wasn't ever up more than a minute!" Ro exaggeratedly lied. Bucky wasn't there to tell the truth—that what she'd said about him reflected more of her own experience.

            "He left his gifts here at my house from when came over last. I was wondering if he wanted me to bring them up if I came to meet you guys."

            "We bought this huge nine foot tall tree, even!" Ro added. "Zee picked out the angel for the top. It's really pretty. You should come see it."

            "You got an address and directions for me?" he asked.

            Zee leaned a little closer to the phone. Ro would have no clue where they were staying. "We're at the Pine Crest lodge in Aspen, Colorado. Out cabin is a Honeymoon suite. It was all they had left on such short notice. We're in cabin J."

            He waited for Casey to finish scribbling down the directions.  "Think you can find it?"

            "No problem. I'll try and make it. Now, I've got to get going. I've got an interview scheduled at eleven, and I don't want to be late. Bye!"

            "Hope to see you soon," Ro said, then hung up the phone. The screen went blank, and Ro and  Zee backed out of the phone booth and headed back towards the cabin. 

            "That was a nice call," he commented.

            "I hope he can make it."

            "Sir! He's receiving a call right now!" one of the agents informed Bennet. 

            "Start recording," he replied. 

            _"Hello?" _

_            "Hey! Just thought we'd drop you a line."_

_            "How are things going?" _

_            "Been playing in the snow a little. I went ice skating yesterday for the first time..."_

When the phone conversation had ended, they cut the line.  "You were right, sir. They did make contact."

            Of course they would. In the video footage Casey had been giving something to Ro. Something on a small slip of paper. The fact that he was later reported as having gone out of town could only mean he was giving her contact information. Rather than directly asking him for the whereabouts of Zeta, he had been able to find out everything he needed by bugging the hotels phone system. When everything was transferred by satellite, this made the task rather easy for someone who had access to government spy technology. It was too easy. The hotel didn't even bother to decode its phone messages at all. 

            "You've got that address?" 

            "Yes, sir. Pine Crest Lodge cabin J. Aspen, Colorado."

            "Let's get going then!"

            Once again they put on all of their snow gear and headed up the mountain. This time Ro wanted to attempt to learn how to ski. Bucky had wanted to try snow boarding, until he heard that it was harder to pick up than skiing. Not wanting to look like too much of a fool, he settled to learn how to ski with Ro. They rented the equipment and bought some other equipment such as face goggles and face masks, and some more durable gloves. 

            Ro was pleased to find that they wouldn't be riding the gondola up again, but that hey could just ride several of the ski lifts until they got to the mid section of the mountain where the beginner slopes were at. There was a class that would be starting at ten in a half an hour.  

They spotted the novice group of skiers waiting together in a group by the designated area. There was one older aged man who towered over looked like he wouldn't be able to handle anything with more than a three percent incline.  "Don't tell me he's the instructor…" Ro muttered to Zee under her breath. 

"There's no one else around…"

The group was all waiting at the top of the bunny slope they would learn to be skiing on. A wheel chair ramp had more of an incline than the bunny slope. The other disappointing factor was that Ro was the oldest minor in the entire group. Bucky seemed like he fit in with some of the younger kids, but Ro had to be the tallest aside from Zee, who looked more like a parent chaperone than a participant. He already knew how to ski. It was in his programming, and would be as easy to pick as ice skating. 

            "So who's ready to learn how to ski?" an energetic voice called from the distance. Ro turned to see who it was. A young man wearing a name tag and a bright orange vest came skiing over to the group. The several kids in the group screamed happily. Ro rolled her eyes. "Please let there be two groups…" She did not want to get stuck with these prepubescent little twerps… Most of them weren't even taller than her hip. 

            "Hello. My name's Mike and I'll be your ski instructor for today."

            Ro perked up. So the old man was just someone else in the class, and not the instructor. Things were looking up. He caught Ro's eye temporarily, "Most of you will probably only want to stay on the bunny slope for a while. Others might want to progress onto something a little more challenging," he said looking at Ro again. He made her feel nervous. She'd never skied in her life. She was just hoping to make one good run today, and that was it.  Zee noticed how the instructor kept looking at Ro. His grip on his ski pole was tightening just a little. 

            The instructor led the entire group over to the slope. He went over how to stop, turn, and slow down, and what to do if you fell flat on your face and your skis got crossed behind you.  For the first run, Zee was the only person who made it down perfectly to the bottom. Bucky wasn't too far behind him. Unfortunately for Ro whenever she tried to turn or carve her skis into the show she'd end up falling over on her side. Whenever she tried to get up again he skis would get crossed or she'd start sliding down the incline before she was ready. She was having a miserable experience. 

            After several more attempts she was ready to give up. Bucky was doing several S's down the bunny slope, and was longingly looking at the intermediate slopes higher up the mountain. Zee didn't appear to be having a good time or a boring one. He'd make several pointers to her, which helped a little, but not enough for her to make it down in one try. She tried the snow plow, but it wasn't slowing her down that much. She'd start going too fast, and would get scared, then would sit down to slow herself even more. 

            The instructor came over to her. She was already embarrassed. It didn't help that the younger kids were doing better than her, or that he was now coming over to her in her despair. She wiped the snow off of her butt and coat. "You're doing a good job, but the reason that you keep falling is you're holding back. In some ways it's like riding a bike. It's really hard to ride one when you're going the pace of a snail, but if you get a little momentum then it's a lot easier."

            "If I go any faster, I'm going to lose control and run into a tree," she complained.

            "Not if I ski in front of you to act as a human cushion," he teased her. "Dave's going to take over this session. If you're willing to try, I'll take you down the rest of the mountain. It's not as difficult as it looks."

            Zee couldn't help but overhear the moves he was making on Ro. He moved closer toward the instructor and Ro. The instructor noticed Zee coming toward him. "You're doing very well too. I'm offering to lead some of the more advanced beginners down the rest of the mountain. Interested?" he asked in a more professional tone. Much unlike the sweet one he'd been using with Ro."

            "Certainly." 

            Bucky some how managed to invite himself into the group as well. They began to head down the mountain with Mike in the lead. Ro found that she did a little better once she got going, but on the first major turn, her skis slid out from under her and she went rolling several feet. Several people up on the ski lifts overhead had seen her wipe out and asked from overhead if she was alright. Man… they must think she was an idiot.  Zee came up behind her. He'd been the last person in the group. While he couldn't easily help her up, he did offer his hand to her. Mike slowly made his way up to where she was, side stepping. It was incredibly hard to ski uphill. 

            "You okay?" he asked.

            Aside from the snow that had been crammed down her jacket, she was in one piece.  "When you go around a curve, lean, and dig really hard into the snow with your skis," he instructed her. 

            Ro wasn't going to let this mistake happen again. She'd completely press herself up against the inside of the curves next time. Her goal was not to fall any more times for the rest of the trip down the mountain. This was not to be her day for resolutions. She fell at least two more times. Bucky was growing rather impatient with her mishaps. He hadn't fallen once. Ro guessed that it must be something to do with their weights. Maybe he was so light he just gently glided over the top, and Zee and Mike were so heavy that they had more traction. She was somewhere in the middle… She was stuck sliding all over the place.

            Then finally reached the bottom. Ro had snow plowed for the rest of the way down after her third fall. She would have sworn that some of the skiers who were now passing her had passed her when she'd first started going down the mountain. "You had a hard run, but you managed to make it. I'd be proud of myself if I were you," Mike said to Ro once they got to the bottom. She looked up at him incredulously. She was bruised, and wet, and cold. There was snow in her boots and in her gloves. She felt like she had been in a car wreck. She really must have looked really pathetic because Mike then offered to buy her a cup of hot chocolate.

            "I'd like that…" she said while taking off her skis.  "If you hot shots want to ski some more, I'll be right here for the next hour," she said to Zee and Bucky. She'd had enough skiing for the day. Mike picked up her skis in addition to his own and carried them towards the café in the lodge. 

            Zee's eyes narrowed as he watched them go. Bucky took off to get in line for the lift again. He took off his skis and put them in the holders that were already housing several other skis. There was a small group of children playing in the snow, having a snowball fight outside of the café. Zee bent over and began to scoop up a really slushy snowball, perfectly rounding it. He stretched his arm back and took aim…

            "POW!"

            Mike's shoulders hunched up as the slush ball dripped down from his neck to his back. Ro turned around looking for who had thrown it. There were several kids running around having a snowball fight. Zee and Bucky were gone.  "Kids," he shrugged the snow off.

            As soon as they'd entered the café, a small child broke apart from the others and began to grow to the height of a regular man. The appearance of the child changed in a second. Zee went over and picked up his skis  and was about to join Bucky in line when he noticed a gift shop that was extended off of the lodge. "I'll be inside the lodge, " he informed Bucky, who was waiting in line, still.

            While he didn't really want to go down the mountain by himself, he still wanted to continue skiing. Zee wouldn't let Ro leave without him so things would still be okay. 

            Unlike all the other skiers who had to walk around in their large, rigid ski boots, as soon as Zee had taken off his skis he was free to walk around normally. The small bell above the gift shop door jingled as he entered. There were a few people inside the shop, snowboarders from the looks of their shoes. They were talking and laughing amongst each other rather loudly. Zee was actually glad when they left. He had to find something for Ro here, even if it was really tiny…

            There was more ski equipment for sale and post cards, as well as Colorado souvenirs than anything else, but there were some small knick knacks. One of the small items that interested him were something called a "pocket angel/fairy" it was a small token with the imprint of a tiny angel on the front, and a fairy on the back. There was a very sentimental poem that went with it. The purpose for carrying around the token was that it was supposed to keep you safe and bring you luck, as well as be a constant reminder of the love that the giver had for the person. It was even small enough that Ro could carry it with her. There were several variations of the tokens. Zee searched through them until he found a combination of a fairy and angel that he liked. He almost felt bad about spending so little on a gift for her. What was even worse was that when she initially opened her gift it would be from either Casey or Bucky… He thought he'd rather have Casey give this to her than Bucky.      He held onto the token and continued to look around the shop. Nothing else pleased him so he paid for it and left the gift shop. He tucked the bag away securely.

 He considered holomorphing into someone else and going inside of the café to see how things were going with Ro and Mike. He had a pang in his conscious that told him not to, but something else inside of him was speaking louder. He looked around him. No one was looking. 

With his new identity he strolled into the café. Upon spotting Ro and Mike sitting on the bar stools, he ordered a hot chocolate as well, and strategically placed himself where he wouldn't be too conspicuous but could easily listen in on their conversation. 

"So, what brings you up this far?" he asked Ro as she sipped her hot chocolate. It was too hot to drink.

"I had thought that it might be fun to have a real white Christmas, so Zee suggested that we come up here."

"Zee?"

"He's the tall guy that I was with. Bucky's in our group too."

"Boyfriend?" Mike daringly asked.

Ro felt a little on the spot. "Not really, just a really good friend. We travel a lot together. We definitely get around."

"So all the pretty ones aren't always taken…" he smirked. 

Ro blushed, embarrassed. His flattery was making her feel uncomfortable.

Zee tried to tell himself that he'd only come here to listen, and not to do anything, but he was losing his self control quickly. Something was going to have to be done. For the safety of Mike, Zee tried to make himself  push his hot chocolate out of his reach, but he couldn't let go of it. He felt himself standing up. An accident… It would just be a simple accident…

"I wouldn't say that I'm available. I'm always on the go. I don't have time for a serious relationship. But Zee. He's enough. He was my family when I had no one else. I don't want to imagine where I'd be without him," Ro said aloofly, not even realizing that she'd shared what others would think to be very personal information. There was a distant look in her eyes. Mike could see she wasn't thinking about him, but about someone else. Whether she realized it or not, she was already taken. He had no right to be cutting in. 

"It's been fun, but I've got another class to teach," he excused himself. "Catch you around, and enjoy your hot chocolate."

It seemed a little strange that he was leaving now, but she couldn't argue if he had another class to teach. 

Just before he got up, Zee quickly pulled his mug of hot chocolate away, before Mike bumped into it and "accidentally" caused Zee to spill it all over him. Even though he was disguised, he quickly looked away before Ro could catch his eye. He dumped his untouched hot chocolate into the trash and hurried out of the café to where he'd left his skis. This was one memory file he was never going to erase.

As her hot chocolate had cooled considerably, Ro quickly finished it off. She loved how the last bit in the cup was always the most rich in flavor. As she came out of the café, to where her skis were, she saw Zee several feet away. He was sitting on a bench, pretending to be picking snow out of his ski and boot. She picked up her skis and walked over to him, then sat down on the bench next to him.

"Where's Mike?" Zee asked, trying not to sound too jealous.

"He had another class he had to go teach."

"I'm sorry," Zee apologized. He was sure that Ro would be unhappy about that. 

"Nah, don't be. Wasn't my type. Too conceited." Zee concealed his smile of happiness. "Get snow in your ski?" she asked.

He'd purposely put snow in the foot well of skis so that he'd have something to do until she got out. The snow on the bottom of his boot was fake, however.

"Bucky is still skiing," he commented. "I think I'm done. It's not very exhilarating or challenging."

"What do you say we return the skis and rent a hovermobile?" Ro suggested.

Zee returned their skis, as well as the other equipment that he'd rented. He then went over to the hovermobile agency and talked with the owner.  "He says that you need a valid driver's license or permit if you want to drive one. You won't be able to drive your own," Zee relayed the policy to Ro.

"Yeah, I know," she smiled.  She had been well aware that she would be riding back seat if they went hovermobiling when she suggested it.

After signing a few papers, and putting down the payment, Zee and Ro were each handed a helmet. The owner then went outside to the back of the shop where the hovermobiles were parked. He started warming one up while giving Zee a crash course. 

One he'd finished, Zee took the driver's position, and Ro straddled the seat behind him. Hovermobiles were only built with a small strap for the back seat rider to hold onto. This wasn't very easy to hold onto when traveling at fast speeds. Instead, she wrapped her arms tightly around Zee's waist. 

He sped off, traveling up the mountain. The hovermobile path on the way up was a series of zigzags. Only on the way down could it take the long mountain trail that most of the other skiers used. There was an area set up with hovermobile trails marked off. These were not the same as the skiing trails as they weren't as steep.  Passing up every other hovermobile driver, Zee sped through the trails. Ro was screaming wildly from the back, as she continued to hang on tightly. Zee was a fun, but safe driver. All of their experiences with the feds must have helped, besides the fact that he had excellent reflexes and vision.  

            As he was driving, Zee constantly would look back over his shoulder to make sure Ro was still hanging in there. He kept thinking to himself, "I am so lucky." The ride back down the mountain was fairly smooth and straight going. Ro closed her eyes and rested her head against his back. His body wasn't cold as someone might expect a metal man to be. He was warm. As Zee would say, "His homeostasis thermometer and system are functioning within parameters."

            When they got to the bottom they returned the snow mobile, and waited for Bucky to show up at the bottom of the slop sometime. Within the half hour, he came down. While he hadn't spotted Zee and Ro, Zee had seen him and went to check and see if he was done skiing.  As he had been down the mountain several times in the time that Ro and Zee had been hovermobiling, he decided that he'd had enough. They returned his equipment and were heading back to the cabin when they noticed that off to the side of the road several cars had pulled over. Zee parked their car behind the others. When they got out they found that there were several kids sliding down the bank at the side of the road on sleds and saucers. Others were building snow men, or just generally playing in the snow. They still had a few hours before it got dark… 

            While they didn't have any sleds with them, they found plenty to do in the soft snow. Ro flopped down into the snow and began to spread her arms and legs outwardly, then inwards. "What are you doing?" Zee asked her. 

            "Making a snow angel." It was something she'd always seen on TV and had read about. Now she was going to try it for herself. 

            If he didn't know that angels were associated with Christmas, he would have thought their constant prominence to be rather strange.  Mimicking Ro's example he lay in the snow next to her, and made his own snow angel. "Now what?" he asked.

            "You try and get up," Ro said, sitting up then getting out of her snow angel. She tried to be careful not to leave any big hand or feet prints in it, but it never seemed to work out for her.  Zee sat up. Ro reached out to help him up. He stepped back to admire his work. It was perfectly symmetrical in all aspects. It was also much taller and larger than Ro's. He turned to Ro to comment on their differences when his visual feedback suddenly went dark. He wiped the snow ball from his face. 

            Ro was laughing, another one in hand. He ducked to avoid it, then bent over to pick up a snow ball while Ro sought cover behind one of the trees. He could see a little bit of her jacket sticking out… He slowly made his way toward the tree. Then "piff" another snowball had hit him from behind. It was Bucky. As he turned to throw the snowball he was holding at Bucky, Ro got him from behind again. The war had begun.

            He received his retaliation when Bucky had hit Ro in the face with a really wet snowball and she switched sides, unbeknownst to him. While he was seeking coverage behind a tree, Ro informed Zee of his position. Zee prepared a large snowball. When Bucky stepped out from behind the tree to throw one again, Zee threw the snowball. It completely missed him, going several feet over his head. "What was that?" he scoffed. "I thought you never missed!"

It was only a second later that all of the snow from the branch Zee had just hit came down on top of him. The amount of snow that had landed on him was the equivalent of thirty snowballs at least.

"I think I've had enough…"

"You ready to go back to the cabin," Zee asked.

"Actually…" Ro piped up," I wouldn't mind visiting that mall again…" She really was out of time to buy him a gift now… Most stores would be closing early afternoon on the twenty fourth, if not tonight!

"Oh no…" Bucky groaned.  

They'd just spent an hour in the mall. The mall would be open very late to night, but would be closed very early the next night.  That way, the mall could spend Christmas Eve with their families. Bucky had especially started complaining more than usual once they got to the end of the mall again. He'd been complaining the whole way, but now he was beginning to attract the gaze of other shoppers with his sour complaints. He sat down at the food both as he had before. Ro was feeling dejavu. But, this would turn out to be a good thing. "I'll just stop in this one store quickly," she excused herself.

"Again?" Zee asked Bucky. He was feeling dejavu as well. Oh yeah… because this had happened before…

"Isn't it obvious?" Bucky commented. His poutiness was gone from his voice.

"Obvious?"

"She still hasn't bought your gift yet. This is a last minute attempt to shop for one since she hasn't had anytime to shop since we came to Colorado."

It hadn't really seemed as obvious as Bucky had just made it seem. Something else was up too. Bucky wasn't complaining any longer. Maybe he had just been helping Ro out but setting up the situation like this? How nice of him.

"So, you get anything for Ro yet?" Bucky asked. "If not you might want to quickly go and buy something while she's in there."

"I bought her something. I don't know if she'll like it that much though."

"What'd you get her?" Bucky asked eagerly. 

Zee smirked, "You'll find out tomorrow morning when she opens it."

"You're not going to tell me?"

"No."

            Bucky began pouting again. Zee offered to buy him a slice of pizza and a soda to make it up to him. Ro might want something to eat as well when she got out of the store. He'd order something for her so that it'd be ready by the time that she got out.

            Ro quickly entered the store. She needed to find a gift for Zee, and quickly! This store didn't have a tool department. She wouldn't even be able to resort to the chrome polish. Maybe the horse smelling cologne wouldn't be that bad?  As she was walking towards the men's department, she passed a glass case full of jewelry. It wasn't women's jewelry on this side of the case, but men's. While she wasn't a big fan for men who wore jewelry, she glanced over the contents of the case. Then, something caught her eye. It was a silver watch chain. She tried to look for the price tag, but couldn't see any. It must be expensive if the price was too big to display. Oh, but it seemed like the perfect gift. While Zee didn't really have much to hang Selig's watch from, maybe someday he might start wearing clothes… someday when they didn't have to run and he didn't need to worry about being able to disguise himself in an instant. She looked for the specialist. Ro saw that she was gift wrapping something for another customer. Ro hurried over to wait in line for her attention. 

            Knowing her luck, she would tell her that she was closing just as Ro got to the front of the line… But, she lucked out. "Can I help you?"

            "Yeah, I'd like to know the price of one of the watch chains you have in the display case over there," Ro pointed towards the case.  The specialist pulled a bot over to continue to wrap gifts and ring customers up in her stead, while she went to help Ro. Anything in the display case would be an important purchase that needed a specialist's attention. Or… the price would discourage the customer so a real sales person needed to be there to persuade them that they really did want to buy it. 

            "Which one is it?" she asked as she unlocked the glass backing. Ro pointed, leaving a small finger smudge on the glass. When Ro left, she'd wipe down the counter so that the next person wouldn't see the smudge mark. 

            "The silver plated watch chain?" she asked.

            "Yes."

            The clerk reached down and pulled up the chain. She lifted it out of its box then fished the price tag out of the velvet lining of the box. Rather than verbally telling her the price as hearing a large number had more of an impact than speaking it, she held the tag out for Ro to see. Squinting slightly, not sure if she really wanted to look, Ro read the tag… The amount was practically all that she had left. If there was a large amount added on in taxes she might not be able to afford it. 

"We're having a sale. 5% off all storewide purchases," the clerk added quickly, seeing Ro's uneasiness. This was true. They would be closing tomorrow afternoon. They had to lower their prices so people did their shopping at their store, in competition with the other stores. 

            Even with the sale, was it wise to spend the rest of her money? What if Zee left her? She'd be on her own again, with no support… No, this wasn't true. She had Casey. He'd take care of her if Zee ever left her, or if something happened to him. "I'll take it," Ro said. 

            "Wonderful!" the clerk smiled. "Would you like this gift wrapped for no additional cost?"

            "Yes, please." Ro had no idea when she'd be able to wrap it else wise. 

            The woman charged Ro for the watch chain, then took the tag off, and began to repackage it for wrapping. Ro constantly looked over her shoulder to see if Zee was around. She really wanted this to be a surprise.  When the woman had finished she was about to put the wrapped package in one of the nice holiday store gift bags, until Ro  stopped her.  "Just a regular store bag, please."

            While the gift bags were promotional to advertise the store's logo, the woman did as the customer had requested. She handed the bag to Ro who hurried back to the table. Her anxiety over having to find Zee a gift was gone. Now she was worried as to whether he'd like it. Would he think ill of her for buying something he didn't have a use for at the moment? She'd find out in two days. 

            "What's that in the bag?" Bucky asked when Ro approached him and Zee.

            Ro thought of the one thing that would discourage Bucky from asking any further questions, "Feminine supplies."  It worked. "I'm ready to go now!" she said cheerfully. 

They returned to their car and began to drive to the cabin. Tomorrow would be Christmas Eve. The day after, Christmas! And that would also be the day that Casey came by. Zee pulled up to their cabin and stopped the car and got out. Ro followed, being careful not to slip on any ice. She stayed close to Zee just in case she did. That way, he would catch her before she fell. 

Zee stopped abruptly in front of the cabin walkway," Tis a foolish thief who forgets his shoes at the front door?"

"What is that supposed to mean? It doesn't sound like one of your usual robot to human miscommunications…" 

"It's an old Chinese proverb. A thief takes off his shoes before entering a house so that he can sneak around quietly. He would be foolish to forget his shoes because then you would know he was there," he explained to Ro.

"Translation…"

"It mean's somebody's been here.  There are footprints all around the cabin," Bucky clarified.

"Couldn't just anybody have been walking around though?"

"But does just anybody try to cover them up again?" Bucky said, pointing to where some of the foot prints had been scuffed up or covered with more snow.

"Feds?" Ro asked.

"Most likely," Zee affirmed her suspicions. They were his as well.

"What should we do?"

Bucky blatantly spoke up, "I vote for 'get as far away as possible.'"

"They could be watching the pass," Zee commented.

"We have to try. It's the only way out."

Zee stared at the cabin. His night vision activated, then his X-ray vision on top of that. He could see two bodies hiding inside of the cabin. One on the left side, and one further back. "Ro's right. There are agents hiding inside. Come on."

They all piled back into the car, where Zee quickly put it into reverse. 

"They're turning around. They must know we're here. Suspects have NOT entered cabin. Repeat, suspects have NOT entered cabin. Proceeding to plan "B"," Rush spoke into her communications radio.

"Follow them!" Bennet shouted in return.

Rush leapt out from behind the sofa where she'd been hiding and threw open the front door of the cabin. West crawled out from inside of the large tub and followed her. Rush could see their cars taillights just barely pulling away from the parking spot. She ran out of the cabin and jumped over the patch of black ice and vainly followed them on foot. West tried to jump over the black ice, but didn't quiet make it, and slipped on the landing. He picked himself up, but Rush was too far ahead for him to be able to catch up with her. He merely waited for the NSA vehicle to come by from its hidden location to pick him up as it would shortly be following them. 

Rather than coming to a stop to pick him up, the NSA vehicle drove by. As it was passing by, Bennet reached his arm out of the door, and grabbed West by the collar and pulled him inside. They didn't have time to waste in this chase.

They soon caught up with Rush. She'd been trying to keep up with the vehicle, but as it was much faster she'd not lasted long. As the NSA vehicle came by, she reached out and grabbed the hand rail on the side, and pulled herself into the open doorway. "I got the vehicles ID and description."

"Good," Bennet commended her.

They began to follow them down the mountain. It only made sense as they wouldn't get very far by going up. With Zee's reflexes, maneuvering around the curves of the mountain was all too easy. The NSA vehicle was much bigger and had to go slower around the turns, or cut over the dotted yellow line, hoping that there wasn't another car coming up in the opposite direction. 

"We won't make it far at this rate," Ro commented, looking behind her. A force field pulse shot right pas the front end of their car. It isolated a large clump of snow. If Bennet's aim improved, they definitely wouldn't be making it very far.

"We can lose them in the city."

"If we make it!" Ro said as another force field pulse shot by.

            Miraculously, they made it into the city. Bennet had to resist using the force field machinery  in case he accidentally got another car or someone on the street. It wouldn't be good policy for the NSA to he harming innocent civilians.  Their high speed chase was lessened as they began to encounter more traffic. Zee couldn't' risk the bad publicity he'd get if they got in an accident. The stop light at the intersection up ahead turned red.  They would be stuck, or they'd have to dart through traffic. 

            Zee swerved the car into the right hand lane. He made a sharp right turn, then an immediate left, cutting through the parking long of the business on the corner of the street. The NSA vehicle was stopped at the light. They wouldn't be able to make such a tight maneuver. They'd have to try and catch up when the light turned green and the opposite traffic stopped. 

            With a couple of seconds'  head start, Zee sped towards the mall. "How are we going to lose them in the mall?" Bucky asked skeptically. 

            Zee pulled the car to a screeching halt. "We're leaving the car," he informed Ro and Zee. 

            Ro grabbed her bag with the watch chain in it from the side of the car seat and the door, and ran with it. Bucky hopped over the side of the car, and followed them. They didn't have much else to take with them from the car. Most of their other clothes had been at the cabin. They would never see those items again. 

            Zee led them into the mall. While Ro rarely doubted Zee's intuition, she couldn't see where they were going with running openly into the mall.  Zee led them down a side hallway in the mall. It had a public restroom and pay phone in it, but further down it had a door marked with "Employees Only." He decrypted the code and opened the door. "Get inside!" he told them. 

            "We're going to hid inside of the storage closet?" Ro asked. 

            "Put these on," Zee instructed them, tossing each of them some kind of green and red outfit." It was the elf costumes for this particular mall's "Picture with Santa" display. 

            "Oh no," Ro said, looking disgustedly at the outfit. "Do you know how many people have worn this before?" she asked.

            "Not as many people as have sat on this one," Zee said, as he slid the Santa suit on.

            "You owe me," she said as she slipped on the Santa's little helper outfit. Bucky looked even more ridiculous than she did. Zee then tossed them the matching hats, while he applied his fake beard and hat. He was a quick dresser for not having much real experience.

            Dressed in their funny costumes, they left the closet. Ro could see the photo set up across from them in the center of the mall. They hadn't come in this side of the mall in their previous trips.  Embarrassed, she pulled her hat down further over her face. As they walked towards the display several young children approached them excitedly. Ro had to shoo them away so that they didn't get too close to Santa. Zee took his place on the large seat in the center of the display. The kids that had come up to him were a small group compared to the number of kids already waiting in line to see Santa. With each of the kids were one or two disgruntled parents. They'd been waiting a long time for Santa to return from his break. And they would still have to wait for them to get up to the front of the line.   Once he was seated, they began to take their turns at coming up and telling him what they wanted for Christmas. Ro and Bucky waited anxiously by his side. What were they doing out in the open, just pretending to be having a picnic?

            "Sir! There's their car!" Rush pointed out. They'd finally caught up with them. 

            "They must be inside of the mall. Hurry inside and find them! Someone contact security and get them to watch the exits!"

            As West entered the mall, he had his holomorphic viewers in hand. He began to scan the crowds. Nothing. He walked further down. There was a large crowd around something. He walked towards it to investigate further. It was just a crowd of kids and parents waiting to meet Santa. But wait… there were three of them. Santa and his two helpers… He held his holomorphic viewers up to make sure…

Ro saw him. As the next kid came up to meet Santa, she picked him up to place him on Santa's lap, but held him in front of her face just as West was checking with his viewers. Everyone looked real. Because of the large wig that Zee was wearing over his face and head, as well as his costume, he couldn't see that he wasn't real. He was going to ignore the scene and continue searching until he recognized Bucky. It was them!

"You! Stop right there!" he said, pointing at the group. He climbed over the small candy cane fence, and pushed his way past the group of kids so that he could get closer.

"Uh, oh, scram!" Ro whispered. 

"Hey you!" One of the angry parents stopped West.

"Me?" he asked.

"Yeah you. No one cuts in front of my kid when he's been waiting this long."

"Sorry. Government Agent," West said, fumbling for his badge.

"I don't care who you are, you can wait your turn like the rest of us!" the parent snapped back. West saw that there were several other angry parents as well.  But, he had to do his duty… As he turned back towards where they'd been standing and sitting, they were gone. 

They'd taken the diversion as a good time to leave, just as the real Santa and his elves were returning from their break. 

They returned to the closet and shed their garb then hurried outside. They couldn't see any agents so far… Zee hailed a taxi cab and they all climbed in. "To the train station, and hurry!" he told the driver. They were gone by the time that Bennet found them on the video footage in the security room.

"Should we follow them?" Rush asked.

Bennet thought of his son. Tomorrow was Christmas Eve. Did he really want to be chasing after some robot on the day before Christmas? What if it extended over onto Christmas day? Would his son, or wife, forgive him if he wasn't there for Christmas morning? "Let's call it a night," he said gruffly. He'd been really close… They'd been right there… "Another day…" he sighed. 

Zee scanned the airport arrival flight schedule time table on the computer screen at the Ground Wire, "His flight is going to be late. He's going to be arriving at his house early tomorrow morning on Christmas, rather than late this evening."

"If he knows that he's going to be late as well, do you think he'll try to stop by the cabin?" Bucky asked. 

"I hope not. The feds might still be lingering around there," Ro said, worriedly.

"If he's smart he'll try to call the lodge and will ask around for us first."

"Maybe we should try to catch him at his house before he heads off again?" Zee suggested.

"Sounds good," Ro agreed.

"This is the last time I let them schedule me for a cheap flight," Casey griped as he dumped his luggage onto the floor of his department. He had six days of mail tucked under his arm that he'd picked up from the post office before he'd come home. Everything looked like it did when he'd left it. Luckily he hadn't been the victim of a break in. It seemed a little too late to try and meet Ro, Zee, and Bucky in Colorado. By the time he got another flight out there, it would be mid afternoon or evening. He might just call and wish them a merry Christmas.

He opened his briefcase, and found the number for the Pinecrest lodge that he'd looked up on the internet. He called the receptionist. She picked up the phone. Despite the fact that it was Christmas, she still had to be available to answer the phone. As compensation, she let it ring several times before she picked it up.

"Pinecrest Lodge, how may I help you?" she asked.

"Yes, can you tell me if the tenants of cabin J are there right now?"

"Are you Mr. Bennet?" she asked.

Bennet. That was the name of the head agent after Ro and Zee. If she was asking if he was Bennet, then most likely she hadn't seen him in person. He got an idea… He was even still dressed professionally as he'd just got back from his business trip… He had nothing to lose, "Yes, James Bennet."

"Someone left a message with me that I was to report to you if they came back. I see you've taken the liberty of calling yourself," she added. Casey could hear that she now wasn't too thrilled at having been bugged on Christmas morning for something she could have handled later. "I'm sorry, but they haven't returned. I sent someone over to check out their cabin every hour yesterday. They haven't come back. He only reported that there are articles of clothing lying around and that they've brought in a tree. But, still, no one's there."

Casey took on a professional and important tone as he replied, "I've called to let you know that you don't need to worry anymore. I've spoke with them personally. They won't be returning." If they weren't there now then something must have happened. Feds most likely. They wouldn't be coming back for their stuff.

"In that case, could you inform Mr. Z that there will be a twenty-five dollar lost key charge, as well as an extra clean up tree for taking the tree out."

"Very well, Casey said in a dignified manner.

"Would you ask him as well what is to be done with the loose articles?"

"I know its not in your job description, but could you mail them to his address?" Casey asked. He wasn't sure if there really was anything there that they still wanted.

"It's a little inconvenient at the moment…" she protested.

"Whenever is convenient for you. Just charge all expenses to the account number."

The woman seemed a little put off, but agreed to do it. Casey gave her a PO Box address where she could send the stuff to. He didn't want any of this being tracked to his house. When he was done, he hung up the phone. Just as the screen disappeared, there was a knock as his door.

"Will I ever get a break?" he wondered.

He opened the door to find three carolers on his doorstep, all dressed elaborately in an old fashioned time period costume. "Come on in guys," he held the door open wider. 

Zee's took his hand off of Ro's shoulder. Her costume immediately disappeared. Zee resumed his regular attire. Bucky turned off the bracelet and handed it to Zee. "How'd you know it was us?" Ro asked as they stepped into his apartment. 

"Two sopranos: one male, one female and a tenor who has perfect pitch and tone," he said as he shut the door behind them. "I tried to call the lodge to confirm if you were still there. Apparently you had some trouble with the feds because the receptionist said that she'd been informed to let 'Mr. Bennet' know if you returned."

"How nice of him to make others do his dirty work," Ro breathed heavily.

"I have to admit… I kind of told her that I was Bennet… I figured you weren't coming back, so I told her not to bother about it. She then informed me that you'll be charged a twenty-five dollar fee for losing you key, plus extra for having to remove your tree, and even more for having the loose clothing mailed back here."

"That was nice of you," Ro teased him. "…I just can't figure out how they found us in the first place!"

"Anyone could have recognized us and reported us," Zee replied.

"Yeah, but does anybody know that we were staying at the Pinecrest in cabin J?"

"Did you Bennet we'd be there?" Bucky accused Casey.

"Of course not!" he replied, offended. "I have even less of a clue than you do!"

Zee broke up the fight even before it began. He could see how Bucky had wanted to make a play off of Casey's not so articulate choice of words.  "Let's no worry about it. They could have just called around. There are other things we could be doing right now than arguing."

"Like opening presents!" Bucky said excitedly.

"Do you have yours?" Casey asked Zee.

"It needs to be wrapped," he said.

"I have wrapping paper in the other room," Casey motioned for Zee to follow him. Bucky slipped into the room as well. Ro sat down on the couch, and waited for them to get back. She fumbled with her own gift. Whatever Zee was getting her it must be small, she hadn't noticed him carry it in. Perhaps diamonds?  She looked at the tree that Casey had set up in his apartment. It was much smaller than their nine foot tree, but looked appropriate for the setting. All of their other gifts to each other were placed under the tree. They'd just been storing them under his tree as they purchased them. 

"If it's all right with you," I'd rather you give it to her first," Zee told Casey.

"Sure. You can put your name on Bucky's, and I'll put Bucky's name on mine," Casey explained. He'd pulled their gifts out from under the tree already and was hiding them in his room. 

Zee figured that he'd separated the gifts from the others so that he could switch the names in secret.  I rewrapped Bucky's and mine so that they all have the same wrapping job, he said as he placed Zee's small token into a larger box to confuse Ro of its shape and size. He then began to wrap that. When he was finished, he wrote their names on each tag, then handed the gifts to each person to carry out of the room. "It'll be more convincing this way."

"What's this?" Ro asked when she saw the three of them come out of the room, each carrying a box. They set them down at her feet. 

"Merry Christmas!" they said in unison.  Casey then began to divvy the rest of the presents up between them. He knew which package went to each person off of the top of his head. He'd been staring at them everyday for the past month. Ro pulled her gift out of her coat pocket and gave it to Zee. –She had bought him a gift. Bucky had been right. 

            No one really needed to say "Go" as soon as Bucky had his gifts, he began to tear off the wrapping paper. Casey laughed and began to tear the wrapping off one of his gifts. Zee stared at the three gifts in front of him. He really hadn't been expecting anything since he couldn't hand onto anything. He began to open the gift from Casey. It was a metal polish buffer set. When Ro opened it, she was glad that she hadn't bought him the chrome polish. Bucky's gift was a quart of lubricant oil. His last gift was from Ro… he was eager to see what it was more than any of the other gifts. He was also watching her in case she might start opening one of the gifts. Zee could see Casey and Bucky were occasionally watching her out of the corner of their eyes as well. 

            He began to carefully peel back the wrapping. Ro watched over his shoulder. He opened the lid of the black box. Inside, on the velvet cushion was a silver watch chain. He didn't think that it was useless or that she'd spent too much on him. It was the most considerate gift he could think of. He'd been completely surprised. He'd have thought that it was going to be along the lines of what Casey and Bucky had got him. It was almost a symbolic gesture of his advancement in the human world. 

 "I thought that it might go with Selig's watch…" Ro said quietly. She was trying to read his expression.

"It's beautiful," Zee said, admiring it. It had a plain, yet lovely design and was made of a high quality yet luxurious metal. "How did you afford it?" he asked.

"It's my business," she told him.

He'd have to fix the watch sometime so he could wear it around sometime.

Ro began to notice that she was the only person who had not opened her gifts yet. Ro picked up the gift from Bucky first and began to slowly peel off the tape then unwrap the gift without ripping the paper. "Just open it!" Bucky said, agitated. He was anxious to see what Casey had got Ro. 

Ro stopped peeling the tape off, but refused to completely rip the paper.  She took the lid off of the box and parted the tissue paper that was covering the clothing item inside.  "What… is… this?" she asked, disgusted, as she held up a negligee. It was red velour with a white feather boa trip around the top, and a string of Christmas lights for the straps. She threw a nasty glare towards Bucky then hit him really hard in the arm while throwing the negligee in his face.

"WHAT?!" Bucky gasped. He hadn't bought that! Casey was rolling on the floor, laughing to himself. "This is your fault!" he accused him.

"So, sorry," he apologized, tears rolling down his cheek. "I couldn't resist…"

"So what'd you do with my gift then?" he asked, upset.

"I've got it in my room. That was just a gag gift."

"It'd better be!" Bucky said, going to his room to go and look for it.

He came out of the room with Casey's real present. It still had his name on it like they'd planned. Ro opened the present a little more quickly now. There was a small picture card inside. She pulled it out and turned it on. A holographic picture of her, Zee, Bucky and Casey projected from the card. She recognized the picture from when they'd taken it on one of their other outings. It was so sweet of him. 

"It's lovely," she said. She went over and gave Bucky a tight hug. Bucky almost felt bad for having taken credit for Casey's gift. Zee was beginning to think that there was no way that Ro could like his gift any more than she liked the picture. He wished he'd thought of the idea. The picture card was small enough to carry in her pocket, as well as take and store additional pictures.

Next, Ro opened the gift from Casey. This was it, the moment of truth for him. Ro noticed that for a large box, it certainly didn't feel very heavy. She opened the box. Inside, at the bottom was a really small token. She pulled it out. There was a fairy on one side, and an angel on the other. There was also a poem. She read the poem to herself. It was touching. But… for some reason, it didn't seem to fit. She absolutely loved it, but she would never have expected Casey to get her something like this. 

"Like it?" Casey asked shyly. I didn't want to get you something too big…" he began to make up a story.

"It's so precious" Ro said, running her finger over the small angel. It had short hair and wings. It reminded her of the tree topper they'd had to leave behind. She went over to Casey and hugged him tightly. "It's perfect," she whispered into his ear, "absolutely perfect."

"Glad you like it."

Lastly, she opened Zee's gift. She'd figured that she'd save the best for last. She wondered what he'd managed to get her. She hadn't really though that he'd had time to shop for her. She'd found it nearly impossible to find time to shop for him… She opened the package. Inside was a nice pink sweater. "Your fashion sense is improving," she commented. It was nice, sadly she might only wear it once or twice. 

"Who's gift does she like best?" Bucky whispered to Casey."

"You can judge for yourself, I don't care anymore."

"Should we tell her what's up then?" Bucky whispered to Casey. "Yeah."

"Ro, we've got a confession," Bucky started to say.

She was listening, although she was confused. What could they possibly have to confess? "We switched gifts," Casey finished.

"I don't understand."

Casey had figured that she wouldn't. "Earlier this week Bucky and I got into an argument as to who's gift was better. So, we decided that we'd switch the name tags to see who's gift you really liked best…"

Casey's gift had been the pocket angel/fairy, and Bucky's had been the picture. While it was just a small article, she thought that she liked the token more. She felt incredibly guilty for having told Casey that she thought it was perfect, when she should have told Bucky that… "So I should thank you for the picture, and Bucky for the pocket token?"

"Actually. Zee helped play a part in this too…"

Ro looked at him, "You too?"

"I figured that if you found out eventually, there would be no harm in it," he explained.

"So who gave me what?" she asked.

Bucky spoke up, "The sweater is from me."

"I gave you the picture," Casey told her.

Zee assumed Ro would then figure out that he'd given her the pocket angel. "You guys are so mean to yourselves! Switching gifts! My goodness!" she threw her hands up in the air. 

"So who's gift do you like best?" Bucky pried.

"I like them all equally well," she replied, looking at Casey. He was going to keep quiet about what she'd whispered in his ear. He knew the truth. And, he was okay with that. Of course Zee would know the perfect gift to get her. She spent more time with him than she did with anyone else. 

"Come on!" Bucky insisted.

"I already told you!" 

Bucky tried to tickle a true confession out of her. They then got into a wrapping paper tube fight. Zee smiled as he watched them go at it. Casey sat down on the couch next to him. "She liked yours best," he told Zee.

"How do you know?" he asked.

"She told me."

"It's not about the gifts though… is it?"

"It?"

"Christmas."

"No, not really, but it certainly was funny to see Bucky's expression when he saw Ro open the gag gift."

"Are you going to return it."

"I don't know. I might save it for next year…" Zee laughed, then continued to watch Ro and Bucky fight with their cardboard tubes. Bucky's had gone limp in the middle, and Ro was taking full advantage of the fact that his reach was lessened. She was definitely enjoying herself and that's all that mattered. 


End file.
